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At the Table Live Lecture - Michael Ammar

Ammar, Michael

Murphy's Magic Supplies, Inc.

(Based on 1 review)
The word "Magic" and the name "Michael Ammar" go hand in hand. Michael is a LIVING LEGEND in magic. Having been a personal student of the Professor himself, Dai Vernon, Michael has been an influence to magicians all over the world for many decades. In this 2 hour jam packed lecture, join host Joshua Jay as Michael shares with you some of his ideas and effects, both new and old.

Broken and Restored Screen: This is Michael's newest "go-to" impromptu effect. Borrow someone's phone and crack the glass on THEIR screen. Show them up close, how the broken screen looks and feels...then magically restore the phone and hand it back to them. Michael discusses how he developed this effect, how a packing bubble can enhance the illusion, and how you can make the simple gimmick needed to perform this close up illusion.

Rubber Band Jam: Michael Ammar does Crazy Man's Handcuffs--a rubber band penetration--better than anyone alive. It's likely you do this effect as well. Michael goes over several fine points that he has never tipped before, and how Richard Ross influenced his presentation in ways you haven't realized. Michael talks about concept of the "delayed revelation" that can be applied to countless effects that you already do.

Pencil Through Coin: NO! This is NOT the version you think you know. Michael Ammar consulted on a television special where this effect was used, and the method is FANTASTIC and NEW-new as in "brand new," never before lectured on.

Hardcore Card Jam: Michael Ammar has chops--great chops, and he has had great teachers. We rarely get to see Michael's chops up close because he often performs for groups of 50, 100, or 1000 people at a time. Well, now you get to see him up close and personal, as he gives you a master class on moves like the Side Steal, goes over some palms, and much more.

Silk Thru Coffee Mug: Michael performs and explains this extremely visual piece of magic. A silk passes through the handle of a coffee mug.

Topit Work: Michael is known for his work on the Topit, and in this segment, Michael shows you how to vanish a cellphone using a Topit.

Little Hand: Vanish a coin in your open palm, with a "little" help. Michael performs Bob Farmer's Little Creature then explains in full detail the work on this fun and visual piece of magic.

Reviews

Josh Burch

Aug 14, 2014

Of course Michael Ammar is one of the great masters of our time. He studied under the professor and has influenced countless magicians. Most professionals use something of his and here you get a handful of his classic work as well as a couple of his other hats as a mentalist and magic theorist. Let’s get into it.

Experience on Letterman: One of the best parts of this lecture format is their ability to cut into the feed and show video of other performances. In this instance Ammar breaks down his performance and shows you how to do all but one of the tricks that he performed on Letterman.

Silk Thru Coffee Mug: If you are familiar with the silk through microphone effect published on Ammars DVD Easy to Master Thread Miracles then you will be familiar with the basic work behind this. A silk scarf is threaded through the handle on a coffee mug and pulled visually through. You will need an extra something to perform this.

Pressure (Performance Only) In this Ammar pushes a phone visually into a balloon. It is Dan white and Daniel Garcia’s trick so he doesn’t teach it. He mentions that in Daniel Garcia’s lecture he will teach an unpublished version of the effect, In Danny’s lecture he does go over a new handling but he never teaches the method.

Topit Work: Here you will learn how to vanish a phone using a topit. Ammar covers the basics on how to use a Topit and he talks about a few things pertaining to tailoring a jacket. Of course in order to do the cell phone vanish you do need a Topit, there are many resources for it’s purchase and construction available.

Little Hand: A coin is placed on the magician’s hand and a little hand pops out and steals the coin away. You will need a little hand for this, which you can purchase on Ammar’s website or make up yourself. You will need a special coin for this. In my opinion this is not the kind of trick you would want to borrow a coin for anyways so providing this special coin should be very easy.

Broken and Restored Screen: This is a fun quick effect that is easy to make up and easy to perform. You break the screen on a cell phone and then restore it. This has been taught previously online by Michael Ammar on at least one magic webseries.

Pencil Through Coin New Gimmick (Performance only): This is a beautiful version of the pencil through coin that uses a brand new method. The coin can be shown on both sides and the penetration can be shown in very slow motion. Unfortunately, it is not completely practical yet and Michael did not feel like it was ready to teach.

Pencil Through Coin Old Gimmick: He walks you through a couple switches that are very clean that you can use with both the old and new gimmicks. These are very nice handling tips that you may or may not be able to use in your own versions. You will need a gimmicked coin for this of course.

Hardcore Card Jam: Ammar covers his go to card effect, how to do the side steal, get and retain breaks. He covers his view on jazz magic and performing for laymen. I don’t know if I would consider this hardcore at all but it is a nice jam.

Leftover Credit: He shows how to snap off the corner of a credit card and turn it into a coin. This is a really nice off the cuff moment that I think many will skip over but it it such a wonderful moment.

Serial Number Reading: This is a great piece of mentalism where a borrowed bills serial number is divined. Ammar uses a fun story here that fit his style that might not be great for everyone but the method is clever enough that just about anybody can do it. He really has made it as simple as possible, you do need to use a handkerchief or a napkin as well as a sharpie.

Add a Number: Ammar reminisces about a couple ideas and a switch using a single card for an add a number routine. His thoughts are very nice here.

Rubber-band Jam: Of course Michael Ammar is world famous for his handling on the crazy man’s handcuffs. Here you learn the classic directly from the master. He tips the method on the actual effect as well as the broken and restored rubber band. If you do not perform this then this is the place to learn it.

So you get a handful of classics and a few new tricks. More of the value is in the thoughts and theory that Michael Ammar provides. Unfortunately this was advertised as a brand new lecture and the majority of it is actually covered in other places. I was also excited before hand to hear about this new handling on pencil through coin and his handling of the phone in balloon, unfortunately these things were not taught completely. For the beginner I would recommend this lecture without question, for the experience professional who is already familiar with Ammar’s work this could probably passed up. The theory could easily be worth price of the lecture.
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