A
New Year For Ned! By Simon Lovell and
Ned the Lemming.
So the holidays
finally grind to a halt and, as I look
at my decimated drinks cabinet, I realise
that a visit to the local beverage mart
is in order to replenish supplies. Even
Santa managed to polish off the bottle
of brandy (and one half eaten cookie)
I'd left for him!
However, while
in holiday spirit (and reasonably full
of it too), Ned and I came up with a cute
idea which delighted our crimble guests.
More amusingly it also fooled the hell
out of a couple of magicians who were
present at Lovell mansions. The requirments
are minumul but you must be a cat owner
for this to work. Since I own a 28lb pure
long haired silver Maine-Coon cat (the
soon to be infamous Harry, the psycho
kitty of doom) I'm set to go - if you
don't own a cat then I suggest you rush
to your local animal shelter and get one.
Not only will you be able to do the effect
but you'll also have saved an animals
life and be rewarded with the joy of having
a sleeping and eating machine that will
reward you with so much fun it shouldn't
be allowed!
Here's the effect
as seen at the party ... A card was chosen
and signed. Neither Harry or I were allowed
to see it. John, my best friend and darts
partner, who had chosen the card put it
back in the deck and shuffled the cards
himself. He was then instructed to spread
the deck, face down, all over the floor.
Since he was pretty tipsy at the time
this took longer than expected and, as
several broken ornaments can testify,
was rather amusing. Harry was then released
from my wife Kat's arms. He scurried over
the cards, ran around a bit, went to get
something to eat, returned, purred and
ran over the cards again. Tension was
high, could the magic psycho kitty do
it!
Well he did,
eventually he started pawing just one
card. He played with it until it was clear
of all the others then lay down right
on top of it! We eased the card from under
him, trying to avoid his claws (in my
case very unsucessfully) and turned it
face up. It was the signed chosen card!
This caused large applause and dropped
jaws from the magi! The response was way
beyond what we'd expected and, whenever
guests are here, it's Harry's most requested
effect. Since it's the only one he does
that's not surprising. What is surprising
is that it is soooo cute and it plays
so BIG!
The method?
There are two methods ... 1. Train your
cat in high class sleight of paw. 2. (much
easier) Smear a card with some catnip,
not too much, and fan force that card
on your unsuspecting spectator. The rest,
as they say, is obvious. Eventually they'll
go for the catnip card! It really is as
funny as hell.
I thought I
was the only one who did this nutty stuff
but was delighted to learn when speaking
with my good friend Guy Hollingworth (he
of T&R card fame from WGM3) that he
uses his pet dog for an effect! He does
a three card monte routine where the spectator
can never find the queen but his dog finds
it every time!
The method?
1. Train your dog in high class sleight
of bigger paw. 2. (much easier) Palm a
dog biscuit or treat in your hand and
as the dog sniffs the cards hold the hand
palming the treat near the card that you
want him to choose. You could also use
the catnip principle to do do this with
your cat. Then the spectator can mix the
three cards face down and your cat can
find it!
ADVANCED SILLINESS
COMING UP - WARNING! If you do this get
them to mix the cards face up first. The
cat finds the queen (or the dog finds
it). You point out that the cards were
face up so they could see where it was!
Repeat with the cards face down and it's
so silly that even Ned broke a smile or
two as he ate through his crimble present
of a bale of nuts and berries!
Ned has now
returned to his spiritual haven to recover
from his extended crimble visit and so
it is left to me to wish all the Gemini
mob a great new year that brings you good
food, fine wines and all that you hope
for.
I'm also looking
forward to meeting lots of you at the
DMS!
All the best
from, Simon and Ned .... and Harry!
