My thoughts on the Michael Ammar experience presented by penguin magic.
For the most part,
it was a recap of what Michael taught on his penguin live and at the table lecture. However, having
said that, this event truly was as it says. An experience. Here is what he taught:
1.
Topit: how could you go to a Michael Ammar lecture and he not teach the topit? Michael is the king
of the topit and his pattern is phenomenal. He goes over the ins and outs of the topit. Most
importantly he goes over how to properly toss.
2. Bottle production / coin in bottle: this
is a wonderful visual piece of magic! First Michael produces a large bottle using a silk. The best
part of this was, he loaded the bottle in front of all of us, and no one spotted it. He went
directly into his coin and bottle. A classic of magic made better. He uses a cork to plug the hole
and slams a coin into the bottom of the bottle and bam it's in the bottle. Michael showed the
workings of it and it convinced me to start doing it again. The best part of this was defiantly the
cork!
3. Torn and amazed / albo card: this is a neat routine using 2 signed cards. One is
visually torn and restored. The second is more spectacular! A corner of a card is signed and torn
off, the card is torn off, then the card is resorted. So what?? The corner is backwards!! Yes it's
an impossible souvenir. This is one great effect. He sells the decks, but they are pricey so I
suggest only doing it for those special clients. But it's amazing!
4. Touched by numbers
(not in penguin lecture) : in this amazing effect, you openly write a prediction. 3 spectators write
down any 3 digit number each. They are added up and the total matches the prediction. The method is
wonderful and clever. It's defiantly a magician fooler. Best part is all you need is a post-it pad.
5. The little hand: a visual comical coin vanish. A coin is placed on your hand and a
little hand and arm come up grab the coin and take it. (Michael seems to have a lot of fun with
this)
6. Bill to Nut (not in penguin live lecture) : Michael borrows 2 bills from 2
different spectators. Rips them in half gives each spectator half a bill. The other halves are
placed in a handkerchief and placed in a wine glass. He then tossed out a bag of peanuts. The
spectator can choose any peanut he or she wants. A magical gesture or word is said and upon opening
the handkerchief 2 individual peanuts out of their shell falls into he glass. He cleanly grabs the
peanut from the spectator (honestly no switches) opens it very cleanly and inside are 2 halves of
dollar bills. He gives them back to confirm they match and lo and behold they do. He then restores
the bills and gives them back. Phew, that was a long description! Here's my thoughts. This is super
clean!! Honestly no switches of the peanut, the peanut is not forced. I love the effect but the
method isn't practical for all but anyone with 4 months of magic knowledge can make it practical.
Having said that, this is one effect I will do!! It's brilliant!
7: sheer surprise:
Michaels famous silk through microphone stand. Michael teaches the ins and outs with this effect. He
sells the "secret item" and the scarf (worth the buy). The "secret item" he uses is no longer
available and if you did find it, it would cost $300 +. But he teaches you how to do it with a cheap
"secret item" that's Under $1. But again, just buy it from him. It has the scarf, instructions, and
the "secret item".
8: the photocopied card: (not in his penguin live lecture) Michael
explains that he believes everything happens for a reason. The other day he spilled cards on a
copier. He decided to scan it as the cards fell. He proceeds to bring out a sheet of paper wrapped
up. When he opens it you see it's the copy he scanned. Inside is the deck he spilled. He has a
spectator cut to a card, and you show that all the cards printed on the paper is all face up except
one card. and as you turn the paper over you see all facedown cards, except one. One card is face
up, it's the spectators card. You then sign the paper, and give it away as a souvenir. Wow!! I love
this. It's a great give away. And it's easy and cheap, my kind of magic. This is one I'm defiantly
using.
9: .41 cent miracle: (not in his penguin live lecture) Michael tells a beautiful
life lesson story using .41 cents. He placed the coins in his fist and they all vanished except for
the penny. He places it back in his hand and opens it up and all the coins are back.
Ok, so the
method is an old item we all have in our drawer at home. But this trick is not the method. It's the
story! The story is what makes this effect. It's a beautiful story that's great for many situations.
I'll defiantly use this at some point.
10: lightning round: Michael has a few bits and
pieces it's about 5 effects in 15 min. This is great and defiantly fun. He has this as a DVD with
many more things on it.
11: exquisite: (not taught in his penguin live Lecture) Michael
shows his newest release (with losander) a borrowed wine glass floats zombie style. It's really neat
and may interest some. It's not for me, but hose who do stage and parlor will love it.
I
may have missed a few, I hope I didn't! The best part of this as I said in the beginning was, this
was an experience!! A chance to meet Michael Ammar, hear him lecture, and the best part, I stayed
late so I could have some 1 on 1 time with him. He was so nice and welcoming. He talked a lot about
dai Vernon, that's what I loved most. It was like learning from the professor himself. If you get a
chance to attend the Michael Ammar experience, please do so! This was something I'll always cherish
and I'm so glad I went.
8 of 8 magicians found this helpful.
Michael Ammar's lecture was a great night, and a great value. I'm sure most folks walked away with
at least one strong item to add to their repertoire. Michael's reputation as today's foremost
teacher of magic is well-deserved. While he's great on DVD, the chance to ask questions as he goes
along adds a whole level of usefulness. He said his goal was to create a live lecture that was
better than his "better than live" instructional videos, and I'd say he succeeded.
I was
amazed to see that even when he's told you exactly what's going to happen, where to look, and when
to look, it was still often hard to catch his moves -- even when he was purposely slowing down and
demonstrating things for us. The "work" is so well-motivated, choreographed and covered that there's
often simply nothing to so. That itself was wonderful to see.
Here's an idea for the
Penguin folks running the show. If you print adhesive name tags ahead of time for everyone who has
preregistered, and then make up new tags for walk-ins (try a Dymo label printer with name tag
labels) it will make it a lot easier for you to be sure you've checked everybody in -- and it will
make it a bit easier for the folks in the audience (all of whom share a love of magic) to get to
know each other.
6 of 6 magicians found this helpful.
I can't even express how awesome this workshop was. It was very informative and up close and
personal. Considering the amount of money many of us spend on magic, this was by far the best magic
value I have ever had.
3 of 3 magicians found this helpful.
So I'll get the negative stuff out of the way first: The venue was meh as there were visibility
issues from outside the first row. You really had to be standing to see stuff. Additionally, there
were some HVAC issues for the first half of the lecture and the room was really warm. So a
recommendation to Penguin is to consider other venues that are more suitable for a magic lecture.
The hotel was fine and the location was pretty central.
Let's get onto the magic: So all of
the reviews above are right. Go see this lecture. I've seen Ammar many times before live and on
video, and you'll want to see this lecture.
Ammar starts off his lecture with an overview
of the topit. He teaches his coin in bottle routine which includes a production of the bottle and
shows off the versatility of the topit. While Ammar is known for making magic accessable, you have
to realize that he truly is a master with the topit.
He makes it look so easy because he
has worked really hard at it. Ammar did a great job explaining the topit. One benefit of being there
live is that he lets everyone take a look at his jacket and get a good understanding of how it's
installed -- this is something that is difficult to get out of a book or even on video. Ammar also
gave some really good tips on how to practice the toss.
The lecture moved on a torn and
restored card sequence that is doable and has a unique ending. He also tought a fun gag using the
underlying principle of the first phase. He tought a practical add a number and explained why he
performs this as mind reading instead of a prediction. He also shared his experinces with this trick
and what he learned from Glen Falkenstein doing this effect.
He tought the handkerchief
through microphone stand, which was enhanced with a sheer scarf. Alot of folks are going to be doing
this.
The lightening round had 10 bits of business and gags -- many which you could include
with your magic.
One of the magical highlights for me, aside form the topit was the Bill to
Nut. There's alot to be learned here and many ways to apply the basic idea to other routines.
Ammar was gracious taking questions. He also was nice when some folks had requests for his
signature tricks and he performed the coins through handkerchief as an encore.
True to his
well-earned reputation, and the comments above, Ammar is a really good teacher. He explains just the
right amount to get you on your path to mastery.
One other note, Brent Braun was the host.
Before and after the lecture he demo'd and sold different tricks that Penguin sold and shared some
news about Penguin. Brent really went out of his way to make everyone comfortable and was a treat to
watch. Brent sharing the joy of magic in his life was wonderful. Penguin: you have a loyal guy in
Brent. Give him a nice holiday bonus.
Thanks to Penguin for putitng this together.
3 of 3 magicians found this helpful.
Its always nice when we have an opportunity to see a person who is an inspiration to our lives.
Over the years I've had a number of opportunities to meet various people who have inspired me. But,
last night I had the privilege of attending a private event with Michael Ammar. Normally we attend
a convention to see, hear, and meet the special star who we want to see. In these settings there
are usually hundreds of people in attendance. If we're lucky we might be able to ask a question and
have it answered. But, the live event I was at last night was a small group of magicians who were
there to see Mr. Ammar, and what a treat it was. Michael came out and performed some amazing
routines and then took his time explaining how to perform the routines. The nice thing is "all"
questions were answered. Not only that, but during the breaks people were able to talk with Michael
in a personal level. Micheal even took time to personalize the autographs each person requested,
AND, have a picture of yourself and Micheal. Talk about a highlight in my life. Rarely are we ever
able to meet a superstar, but to be able to chat with them was fantastic. To be able to get the
full detail of how a routine was performed, and not be rushed. It was a magical event, to say the
least.
The nice thing is Penguin Magic provides these workshops throughout the year, and
usually at a location that is easy to attend. Thank you Penguin Magic for producing this event, and
thank you, Michael Ammar, for providing a wonderful evening full of magic, conversations, and a
genuine enjoyment being with the magicians who attended.
2 of 2 magicians found this helpful.
It was a great night. Michael is fantastic. He is a legend and a very nice person. When you do magic
you are giving something to the people. You are giving them a gift. WOW! Great concepts and super
visual magic. What else can I say??? Michael was super accesible and open to share his thoughts and
experience.
Brent Braun is a great person as well. They love what the do and that is
contagious. It began at 6 and ended at 11 or more. None wanted to leave the room. Great questions
from the people as well. Can anybody provide the magic club web page of Houston, please?
You
should go to this kind of events! Penguin, you should think about the possibilities to do this in
other countries. You will be amazed of the chances of business out there.
Another good thing is
that you will find a lot of magic for a good price.
2 of 2 magicians found this helpful.
I had been out of magic for a while and just started getting back into it during the past year and I
absolutely loved this workshop with Mr. Ammar. I can't say enough about this experience except it
was an absolute honor to get to meet and speak with one of the legends of magic (not to mention
provide unexpected last minute transportation from and back to his hotel). This workshop was a
wonderful inspiration and I look forward to the experience returning to Dallas again in the future!
2 of 2 magicians found this helpful.
Magic is meant to be real, live.
You can only tell where you are in your magic from comparing
with the best, and Ammar is tops. He's the
greatest magic teacher alive today. I'll be pushed
forward
by this lecture for years.
2 of 2 magicians found this helpful.
A real pleasure and honor to see Michael Ammar up close and personal. The event was great mix of
performance, lecture, stories and conversation ... well worth my time and money. It was also great
to have Brent Braun there as his personality and demo time added a lot to the evening. I ended up
picking up a couple of items from the Penguin booth after the show. As a piece of feedback, it
would have been nice to have Michael on a small riser when performing as it was a bit hard to see
unless you were seated in the front row of chairs. But other than that, nice job. I would attend
again.
1 of 1 magicians found this helpful.
The Michael Ammar experience was exactly that, it was an experience.
Meeting one of the great
minds of magic was the coolest thing in the world.
Michael was really cool to work with and
didn't mind answering questions. He taught a lot of really cool stuff and it was so much nicer to
see in person.
Michael was really nice and was great at explaining things that people missed.
His tricks were great and everything was really easy to understand. Absolutely great time!
Brent Braun was there representing penguin shaking hands and giving hugs. He was awesome. He
demoed tricks and answered tons of questions. He was absolutely great and i want him to come back to
Fresno as soon as possible. It was so cool to be able to see a lot of the tricks I've been looking
at online on person and see a live performance of them.
I loved penguin before but having a
live performance with Brent Braun made me love it even more. Good job guys.
1 of 1 magicians found this helpful.