TimDavidMagic.com

Inhuman Card Manipulations

A magic friend of mine sent me this video called, “Opera”:

My question for you is this:

What’s more impressive to you…a great magic trick, or a great demonstration of skill, like in the video above?

Let me know your thoughts by posting a comment below.

Magic Performance | | February 18, 2010 6:00 pm

92 Comments

By Denny, February 18, 2010 @ 6:40 pm

THAT WAS AWESOME!!!
By Charlie, February 18, 2010 @ 6:41 pm

Two thoughts: First, this guy has a gift for manipulation and second, he has spent much time on perfecting his skill. Very impressive!
By Dale, February 18, 2010 @ 6:41 pm

The incredible ability to manipulate the cards was the most impressive.
By kerry sanwald, February 18, 2010 @ 6:42 pm

Unbelievable level of skill with the cards,jaw droping!!
By Joe, February 18, 2010 @ 6:50 pm

UNREAL!!!TRULY AWESOM!
By Jay, February 18, 2010 @ 6:51 pm

Absolutely amazing!!! No patter, no setup, no gimmicks, just a very talented young man who, as far as I know has hit upon something original.
Tricks and demonstrations of skill fall equally with me.
Am ex technical theatre (as in stage) pro and therefore I have a high regard of both. Wish my hands were as big as his LOL
By Steve, February 18, 2010 @ 2:04 pm

Boring after 30 seconds.
By jim, February 18, 2010 @ 2:06 pm

plain and simple – its just fantastic. beauty beyond words.
By Daniel Maldonado, February 18, 2010 @ 2:24 pm

That performance was very awesom… it´s a big hability in his hands.
By SteveM, February 18, 2010 @ 2:28 pm

Amazing, to be sure. More like ballet than opera, or perhaps like the Cirque du Soleil contortionists.

HOWEVER, I think this particular skill demonstration is the enemy of creating illusions. If you see a guy can do this, then nothing else he does will have any other possible explanation than manipulation. It destroys the spectator’s confidence that that what he can see is what he gets and that everything is done fairly. All possible interpretation as “magic” is gone because you can’t trust the guy: you assume he’s going to fool your eyes with his hands.
By J, February 18, 2010 @ 2:32 pm

absoulutly amazing!
By Maxx Dragon, February 18, 2010 @ 2:37 pm

Well it all depends on the trick. There are lamer pick a card tricks that need a little pzaz in it, but simpler tricks like some dissapearing tricks, one that you teach (not going to reveal how the trick is played out and forget the name but will say your vid contains a hoodie), this trick will be ruined because those tricks are based on unanticipation of the unnatural.. like a spontanious vanish, or a changing card, but if you pzaz everything, they are already expecting that unexpected result that you are going for, so they are like “ah cool, he can even pzaz a card into my pocket” rather than the joy of the “Wow! how did he do that?” So it really depends.. the question is where is the ballence?
By priyanka, February 18, 2010 @ 3:30 pm

very very impressive….
t’was sumthing dat left me gasping @ da comp. screen!!!
By magicmick, February 18, 2010 @ 5:40 pm

sorry but the guys pinched my act
By Mac, February 18, 2010 @ 6:31 pm

Good skills cleverly performed to a complimentary background.
Very Well Done Tim
By alejandro, February 18, 2010 @ 6:46 pm

this is amazing but… how????
By paul rouse, February 18, 2010 @ 7:37 pm

It’s the most brill card manipulation I have seen,the smoothness( if there is such a word) was fantastic. How much more will he offer to the World before he’s finished. Well done to him.
By geno, February 18, 2010 @ 7:43 pm

I bet he’s hasn’t smelled a twat in months, years!
By Kerwin, February 18, 2010 @ 7:48 pm

how did he do it? it seems like he doesn’t have any bones in his hands! GREAT!
By Matthew, February 18, 2010 @ 7:54 pm

Any trick we can do (simple or complex), this guy can probably do better. His skill is a testament to his natural talent and obvious hard work. He would be equally as impressive doing a simple ambitious card routine. This is impressive.
By Arjun, February 18, 2010 @ 7:57 pm

AWESOME….AWESOME….AWESOME….

wish i cud do that….but i think i cant even if i have 4 hands….
By Cameron, February 18, 2010 @ 8:38 pm

thought this was amazing. curious as to how you got so talented with those cards. should message sometime with the answer.
By xten, February 18, 2010 @ 9:00 pm

no comments! wow! truly,deeply, amazing!..great!
By Ron, February 18, 2010 @ 10:02 pm

I’d much rather see a good card trick than straight manipulation. To me it’s like the difference between watching a dancer and watching a comedian. I get more entertainment from the comedian than the dancer. Just a matter of taste, I suppose. Manipulators to me all look the same, just different levels of skill. Magic tricks are all different and you never know what will happen next.
By Frank, February 18, 2010 @ 10:03 pm

Just to reply to some of the others, I do agree that xcm manipulations can be harmful to magic, depending on the person. as one has said earlier, overdoing the manipulations with tricks may ruin the actual effect. for most magic, enough manipulation to look professional is all that’s really required. Flourishes help some tricks when they are used as misdirection and maybe some other situations. Those who only do card manipulation do not necessarily take away from magic as long as they don’t really do magic too much. Xcm just shows that you can do wome really cool stuff with cards… to say the least.
By Frank, February 18, 2010 @ 10:05 pm

Another thing, while we are all drooling over it’s awesomeness, or hating on it’s awesomeness and while we are all debating the ethics and technicalities of card manipulation, how about we study the video to see what it can teach us, eh?
By wil biggs, February 18, 2010 @ 11:00 pm

incredible. truly. flourishes thread, genius.
By sylvester, February 18, 2010 @ 11:27 pm

Amazing,that guy is awesome
By Jeremy, February 19, 2010 @ 12:02 am

As stated can overpower the magic. We must be carefull of that. I got caught up in flourishes for about four years. When I performed I could do things like that for people and make them go wow. I bet you can do gread slights yet I had none to back myself with. Now I am trying to get around that going through my books on card slights.
By Bill, February 19, 2010 @ 12:43 am

It was definitely an awesome display of skill. But….An excellent performance, be it magic, manipulation, acting, whatever will always WOW people. Lesson to learn….Practice, Practice, Practice, and be the best that you can be at whatever you do.
By moe, February 19, 2010 @ 2:30 am

that was amazing … I totally loved him…:P.again, so impressive
By Lawrence O', February 19, 2010 @ 3:40 am

To answer your question, this is an amazing juggling work with cards. Now it’s not magical in any way. AmI more impressed with this than with a magic trick of comparable quality? As a magician: no. But why should I have to rank between a night with a movie star and a gastronomic dinner by a three stars chef. I should be allowed to enjoy both without them being opposed even if I don’t think that they should be mixed or fall under the same denomination. What’s so humbling about “juggling”? It’s as your video demonstrates a fascinating art. Let’s celebrate it at its best especially for juggling with cards is an area of the juggling that had been overlooked for many years. Let’s promote this as top juggling rather than inferior magic.
By John Carreon, February 19, 2010 @ 3:49 am

Great magic skill and demonstration of skill is equally amazing. This guy has magical skill that amazes his audience.
By Majik, February 19, 2010 @ 5:39 am

I’m speechless.
That was almost unbelievable.
These are the types of things that you watch &
look back on what you do and think “Why bother,
Im never gonna be able to be that good.”
Cant give up though.
By Stunned., February 19, 2010 @ 6:30 am

MADNESS. 1st word that comes to mind.
INSPIRING. 2nd word that comes to mind.
MUST COMMENT. 1st phrase that comes to mind.
I always adored the idea of opera with card manipulation. It totally raised the performance by several levels.
CRAZY. last word that came to mind.
By Chronos923, February 19, 2010 @ 7:37 am

i disagree with steveM i believe that when the people’s eyes are really tricked they get more challenged and they get angry or agressive to get this guy out. i believe tricks are equal line on this demonstrations. and its just that awesome
By Magic Mayya, February 19, 2010 @ 10:56 am

Unique special in his own style
By sagar, February 19, 2010 @ 11:36 am

it was awesome.salute to the way he performed,he might work very hard to do like this.
By gary, February 19, 2010 @ 3:24 pm

amazing! I couldn’t help but think there was invisible thread somehow involved. Magnets? especially when they were spinning.any ideas?
By MERWYN, February 20, 2010 @ 2:46 am

for me agoood magik trick would b impresive…bcoz i 2 like 2 ccccc people amuzed
By max sumantri, February 20, 2010 @ 8:09 am

I like both the skill and the magic tricks.
Could you show and teach the simple skill but amaze people.
By nissar, February 20, 2010 @ 11:21 am

it was really awesome. hats off to him.
he really deserves a recognisation.
By jorge l., February 20, 2010 @ 6:34 pm

ive got only one word for this…boring,just kidding,it was frigging awesome
By minhtri, February 21, 2010 @ 1:22 am

great demonstration of skill i think so
By Spinmaster, February 21, 2010 @ 2:27 am

Sorry, it was a bit boring after the first few minutes. It certainly isn’t magic. Perhaps a slight case of juggling.I’m afraid he has done his due.I’m afraid he is a young man with too much time on his hands. I wonder if he has a job and he is as competent at it as he is playing with cards?
By Maya, February 21, 2010 @ 5:29 am

amazing….that was awesome
By Richard (aka) El Ricardo, Enniscorthy, February 21, 2010 @ 6:20 pm

An art in itself. Truly amazing. Must have taken an awful lot of practice to perfect. Practice, practice, practice.
By Ab, February 22, 2010 @ 3:18 am

Wow! That was really anmazing
By Bruce Altevogt, February 22, 2010 @ 9:34 am

outstanding that was very awesome indeed.
By Mark D, February 22, 2010 @ 7:34 pm

The Opera video is amazing. The magician really does show off some impressive manouvers, which would take years of practice to perfect. For his skill I would give him 9/10.
By Jasem, February 23, 2010 @ 4:08 am

OMG THAT IS THE BEST!!!!!!!!!!!
By brian, February 23, 2010 @ 2:45 pm

True enough, some people might think this is boring and not real magic. the simple truth is, manipulation is a true art form of magic. any professional magician would know that manipulation has been a factor of magic for thousands of years. Harry Houdini was a master card manipulator before he got into escapology.
By Richard, February 23, 2010 @ 3:13 pm

I am not a card guy but that was Amazing and a creative way of presenting it. I can’t help wondering how many takes were done and edited together to get the complete routine. Very skillful. I am not sure what the market would be for it, I mean, after that what else is there?
By jim, February 23, 2010 @ 3:28 pm

It is a definite exhibition of skill. Nothing more.
By Luis Iommi, February 23, 2010 @ 3:29 pm

Increiblemente real!!!!!!!!!!!
By Jonathan MagicFunction, February 23, 2010 @ 3:38 pm

Great skills – very impressive – but why is there a chicken in the middle of the video?
By MrSunshine58, February 23, 2010 @ 3:54 pm

CGI makes everything come true Dinosaurs also exist, despite they don’t . The clip is too arty….show me the same in a one-shot home-made video and you are my man.
By Paul Bates, February 23, 2010 @ 3:56 pm

Clever stuff. Unfortunately too clever by half.
By John, February 23, 2010 @ 4:03 pm

Certainly beyond my skill level, but I wonder, how many takes were required for the different sequences? How much set up time was required for some of the more intricate effects?

Purely from the entertainment point of view, I was intrigued while watching, but doubt that it would sustain my interest much past the five and a half minutes of the clip.

And the music choice doesn’t work for me.
By Rasec, February 23, 2010 @ 4:09 pm

Well, It´s almost 100% of skill do you really think that people are going to think “wow how did he did that” when he performs a card trick?

I remember from my school that if you want to proof master in card tricks you should try them in a natural way …that way anyone will think that you can do anything with cards…before the card work begins.

Good work…if you want to use cards as juggling props…do something like that first then a card efect. and you have nothing at the end.

Try it.
By Pastourel, February 23, 2010 @ 4:16 pm

This is not magic but skill; nothing outstanding nor amazing just juggling with cards and for an audience i think it is Boring after one minute.
By Paul M., February 23, 2010 @ 4:18 pm

This guy was unreal. Another poster had the same thoughts as I did. So unreal,So unreal I wonder if a gimmicked deck like an electric deck may have been used. Personally I like a good surprise reaction card trick. as Tim would say,”Go spread some wonder this is just unreal “Selling your trick is awesome to me”
Paul
By Oscar, February 23, 2010 @ 4:54 pm

I doubt this guy practices magic.. He is an XCM guy.. Like Chocolate and Vanilla there is room for both in our ice cream shop of playing cards..
I do think this would be a GREAT finish to any act… AFTER you have wowed them with surprise endings and a few simple flourishes, only then do you show off this amazing skill..
By Daniel, February 23, 2010 @ 4:55 pm

So good, He needs more of the Spinning Cards and hes got more then one act in his show.
Dan

MTUNIT.com
By Daniel, February 23, 2010 @ 4:57 pm

http://www.youtube.com/user/DanielParis100

Very Good
By Krystian, February 23, 2010 @ 5:04 pm

Xcm is a thing that if you practise for a long time you will do the whole thing he did in this video and you need big hands to. Card magic is more like a tallent thing but you need practise to but not evry person can do magic that what i think
By Dan Martin, February 23, 2010 @ 6:06 pm

Looked great to start with, but even with our broadband, stopping and starting, waiting for hte next thing to happen, sorry, I am too busy, didn’t even see it through to the end. My opinion; cut to the chase, unless you are entertaining audiences who pay to come and see that kind of thing.
By frank deaugustine, February 23, 2010 @ 6:20 pm

why do you concider this magic? He is great with his hands but I have not seen any magic.
By Dave, February 23, 2010 @ 8:00 pm

He is very dexterous. It’s not magic just way too much time spent perfecting his skill. If he would use some of his flourishes in a magic trick, he would truely be entertaining. Nothing magically entertaining about it, otherwise nice.
By Perseo, February 23, 2010 @ 8:46 pm

Hey Tim, I think it´s not fair trying to compare such a diverse kind of art, it´s like comparing Painting Art with Music Art, both of them are beautifull feeding to the soul whenever people is able to apreciate , to feel, and to live it…
I agree with you in saying this guy should keep doing and developing what he does…
By suraj, February 23, 2010 @ 9:12 pm

hi TD,
there no question that he is one of the best.but,when it comes to audience entertainment he is far away from a six card repeat or a card castle effect,bcoz magician is there to entertain the people not to make them feel that they are not skiled,one more thing, every magician should use some flourishes in their act,like a some sweets in a dinner,flourishes can’t be a whole act.
By Rajesh Jindal, February 24, 2010 @ 1:01 am

Wow! A great demonstration of skill. I liked that.
By billy, February 24, 2010 @ 3:03 am

Your question was: What’s more impressive to you…a great magic trick, or a great demonstration of skill, like in the video above?

Well, with a (fantastic!) demonstration of skill, what you see is ALL what there is to see. I feel a trick leaves you with more of a “What?!?!?!?!” …and knowing that something happened right in front of you and you missed it. This creates a feeling of “Wonder!” This is what will stick with an audience long after they’ve forgotten everything else!

I do VERY few card tricks and on purpose, do NOT practice flourishes, etc. I’m pretty sure it has a stronger effect on an audience when I clumsily and comically stumble through a trick…and it works. Their jaws drop even more!
By TM, February 24, 2010 @ 8:31 am

HEY suraj who said that he is doing a Magic show, Card manipulation is a skill different from Magic .Its his wish if he wants to do magic or flourishes.U cant compare the both in terms of stage performance.
By paul cook, February 24, 2010 @ 8:34 am

its like jamming on a musical instrument but not playing a song
By nicholas lim, February 24, 2010 @ 4:11 pm

its very artistic n nice…in a XCM point of view..but in terms of magic not much..it just shows his/her dexterity n manipulations of e cards..not interactions wif an audience.if he keep doin tis xcm over n over to ppl..it will b boring.but to include it into a magic based routine,nw tat will be awe inspiring..eg.Dan n dave buck…but overall its a nice vid of XCM
By Miss Bubbles, February 24, 2010 @ 7:00 pm

I thought he was awesome. Then it got a bit booring. Less is more. I think this is a novelty rather than a an ongoing entertainment.
ie: saw him once, that’s enough.
By Edwin North, February 24, 2010 @ 8:22 pm

The best card man ever IMHO is Simon Lovell, but he does something that sets him apart. he appears clumsy with his cards, dropping cards, sloppy shuffles etc. I think you have to choose, do magic effects OR do skilled effects of manipulation. he’s too good to ever do magic
By eerie, February 25, 2010 @ 7:24 am

After watching that video, my first thought is that he is so amazing! But he must have spent half of his lifetime learning all that right? Does he have a girlfriend already? These thought just come to my mind. I agree with you, Tim, which he has the potential to be famous. But I think this alone may not make him become a household name, people may only remember about a guy who can do this amazing card manipulation skill, but after a while people may forgot. But still, perhaps if he shows off other skills other than using his deck of cards only, people may want to remember his name and admire him. And then, he may prove you wrong haha
By Mark, February 25, 2010 @ 8:29 am

Damn, he must have had a lot of (card) falls during his experimenting and training. If only he could apply his manipulating techniques in card magic, then he would become one of the best. Imagine style plus awesome magic tricks.
By thecuso, February 25, 2010 @ 10:35 am

This vid was uploaded to my youtube account with Dimi’s permission and got over 100k views in one week. He is amazing, you should blog our sexy time video (me, dimirti and sebastian) and link to the number one resource on card flourishes and XCM aka my site

Good post man, keep it up!

Alejandro Portela
.thecuso
By gypsyreb, February 27, 2010 @ 3:11 am

Well first of all both belongs to a different category and it would be difficult to compare. For entertainment I believe it depends on the audience watching. People have different likes and expectations from a performer.Card manipulation is great to watch but it does not have a mystery that a card magic trick has.I think combining both category will add color and excitement, it would enhance any card magic trick into an extra ordinary performance.
By ericson, February 27, 2010 @ 7:31 am

mantap..& luar biasa ,which means:
applause for demo,incredibly,extremely
By Ravikrishnan, Advocate, February 27, 2010 @ 11:32 am

fantastic performance, Hats off to him for mastering this by spending much time for this
By john, March 2, 2010 @ 11:48 am

hi tim, the guy with the cards was brilliant but, the background music was doing my head in,
i had to turn the
i have come across this annoying thing with other magicians, if the tricks are good they don’t need the crappy music, regards, john
By john, March 2, 2010 @ 11:50 am

p.s. the 3rd line above should have read,
i had to turn the sound off, sorry.
By Ron, March 3, 2010 @ 6:13 am

I think The Cuso has outdone himself with this demo. Personally I like great magic tricks AND fantastic demonstrations of skill. I disagree with those that view XCM as harmful to magic and I believe that most audiences would agree with me. Magic should create awe and shatter belief where manipulations are to be appreciated in much the same way as juggling or hand shadows. They are skills beyond the norm. Magic, to me, should not look like skill, it should look impossible. I also think it is harmless to add some flourishes to a card trick for example. To paraphrase Harry Lorayne, If you want to see someone handle the cards in an unskilled manner, go watch your neighbor. I’d also like to point out that most demonstrations of XCM are not typically mixed with magic tricks. If you do, however, want to see an almost perfect blend of these two arts, look into some of Daniel Madison’s work. I think both have a place in a magic performance. Remember Cardini? No one believed his manipulations were pure magic, yet they seemed impossible.
By Shalom, March 11, 2010 @ 6:54 am

People go to the circus to see acrobatic feats they know they can’t perform themselves, and to magic shows to see miracles. The problem with this guy is that he provides neither. The average person, outside the small cliche of magicians, cannot fully appreciate the skill needed for this performance. People can be stunned by skill performance only if they have a personal reference of their own experience, failures and limitations.
By Daniel Dado, March 12, 2010 @ 4:11 am

THE skill! THE skill! THE skill! THE skill! THE skill! THE skill! of course, but somehow the magic trick also, the skill is absolutely thumb up
By PrabhuNS, March 26, 2010 @ 1:38 pm

Really awesome card control

Cheers
NSP
By faez, April 2, 2010 @ 8:51 am

hmm the skill is impressive not the magic trick
By janjannix, May 25, 2010 @ 9:18 am

your my idol tim david i hope you would teach me how to magic!!!