Just posting a thought...

I feel that magic effects go thru "trends" and certain periods certain genres are more popular. And (due to successful marketting), during certain periods, some effects are so popular that they are just beaten to death coz virtually everyone is performing them. These effects then become passe because of over-performance.
Do you think this is true? Or is it just a "magician's mentality" because we see these effects being performed so often by our peers and it doesn't really affect layman's perspective and entertainment?

My list of "passe effects" would be :

2 card monte (David Blaine's style)
ACR
Spoon/fork bending
Snap change
IT levitations


As much as i really like some of these effects, i really try not to do them anymore. Almost everyone does them now. B)
Add your list.

if u read his post properly, u can deduce that "passe effects" mean effects which are done by too many ppl it kinda loses its appeal.

but i think, as long as the routine is unique, to the audience, its a new effect. like for example, ACR, as long as it is different, u will stand out from the rest, and ppl will rmb it as a particularly unique transposition effect.

but stuff like IT, i wud suggest to use it subtly, and not use it for full floats.

Hmm to me, an ACR isn't a passe effect. Each person has a different ACR I guess ( I don't do card to wallet). For example, my ACR ends with a signed card thats 3/4 blue and a quarter black. Hmm something to add to the passe list is the coin matrix. Doesn't matter whether it is done with hands only or cards. To me it kinda lost its appeal.

Nick.

Yay.

Let's remove all ambiguity.

pass (pæs) A motion of the hand or the waving
of a wand (besides the <youknowwhat>).

passé (pæsé) 1. No longer current or in fashion; out-of-date.
2. Past the prime; faded or aged.

We're discussing "passé", not anything else, however much we may be led to think otherwise by the spelling.

Anyway, David Blaine sure as heck led the way down passé-dom. Previously, it was silly nonsense like rabbits out of hats and sawing women in 2.

Card magic is passé, big time. and ACR is majordomo passé, 2/3 Card Monte as well. Heck, most things on Elluzeehonestly is passé enough.

Also the vanishing hanky. Big secret? Yeah, right.

The Balducci's kinda passé as well, along with virtually everything else in the Blaine repertoire. EVERYTHING. Ever wonder why the Blainester doesn't do TV specials any more??? Rich fella now spends his time somehow defying death, while idling in Perspex boxes, but not really performing traditional magic anymore.

I agree. Anything typically "Street Magic" like Blaine or anything from Ellusionist is sigh-inducing.

Many teen/new magicians nowadays would feel mortally crippled if you told them to perform a trick that WASN'T an ACR or Be Honest, What Is It? (2 Card Monte).

Typical card magic is quite dull to me. Whenever someone asks me to pick a card, I feel bored because I know they'll end up finding it. They might do a sybil with their ears (Ask 3-nob or Farid to show you) or a hot shot cut with their teeth to produce it, but it WILL appear. There is no suspense or excitment now.

The only card effects I perform now on a regular basis is Card Warp and Bizarre Twist. These two effects are so out there that I myself get excited anticipating the climax. OOTW is another great one, but thats where my card magic stops. I can still do controls, passes, colour changes and revelations, but I don't. I find that they don't logically fit into what I want to achieve with my magic any more.

I believe ACR will never phase out. It's like a staple in a morning breakfast. After all, there are a number of variations. I like Blank ACR the best. It's cute.

I used to have a "burr... passe bullshit" attitude towards the Cups and Balls effects, but after seeing David Regal's, Tommy Wonder's, and Charlie Caper's takes on the classic plot, that attitude was thrown away.

Nothing is really passe as a whole, I'd say... there are always ways to make a new, exciting variation of it.

-Kev

Except Linking rings. Or maybe not...

i always prefer to do linking rings on stage, maybe it will be a passe effect for stage magicians.

i beg to differ... when u tell the person to pick a card of course they know u are going to do something with it, like finding it after it is lost... people are not amazed when you find their card(e.g. tell people to pick a card, put it back, find it.), they are amazed by how you find the card...like making a card that is not theirs turn into their chosen card...

i personally do not believe in passe effects. its all in the presentation and routining of that effect.

even linking rings (despite all the "rumours") can be performed well, and leaving ur audiences amazed. and if locking rings are used, OR with audience "examination", the secret can be kept and those "rumours" dispelled.

I guess I don't really agree with Gordie. What he says is somewhat true but not all of it. Well its just my opinion but I think several effects are mega passe. It doesn't matter how you present it, its still really really exposed and overdone. Actually sometimes it depends on which country you're in. I'm sure if we go to India or China, no one has ever seen a snap change before. Hmmm. Anyway here are several tricks or sleights on my passe list.

Coin matrix
Snap Change ( Passe big time )
Balducci Levitation

I have this motto:

"If I can't perform an effect well, the effect is passé." :P

Did you know...

Sandwich effects are so-called passe effects in the 1970s. Every single new effect was a sandwich effect with a different prresentation*.. Imagine if you were to live in that time, most probably you would get sick of card magic and eating sandwiches.

So, Gordie, I cannot agree with you. Yes, there are many presenations to a trick, but then, if the overall idea is the same (eg. In ACR, card keeps coming to the top, pick a card - find a card) and it is being over abused, then effects of the same genre will become passe.

* - said by Curtis Kam in Silverado. Sandwich effects are not passe anymore. You don't see much sandwich effects nowadays, so it looks cool when you see it.

One little idea: Stop performing. Think crazy. Research like crazy. Create. Then perform again.

That is how people come out with state-of-the-art effects.

Try harder... Because I am,
llamalamer

well, i guess that in very extreme cases, certain effects can be considered "passe". but, as of now, i do not think ACR is a passe effect as the jumping to the top need not be "the effect". to a certain extent, passe effects can be made to look different from the usual one.

Hmm 'passe' is a very strong word. I just realised it totally depends on opinion. To tell you the truth, I thought sandwich effects were just slightly on the passe side until I saw the jumping sandwich by Jason Dean. It looks really good. Hell of alot of skill needed though.