Pop, I see your point and I totally get it about the sound. In the UK the word "chink" is a particularly vulgar term and pretty offensive to many so I wouldn't use it myself. Maybe in the USA it isn't seen that way? I honestly don't know about that as many terms and phrases differ from one side of the big pond to another.

Bri

In the U.S. -- and everywhere else, including the UK, I'd imagine -- it's about context...how you use the word and what your intentions are. If I say "There's a chink in your armor," no reasonable person would find that offensive; in that context, "chink" means a flaw, and anyone who'd be offended by its use needs to buy a dictionary. Likewise the name "Chink-a-Chink" for a classic magic routine. In that context, "chink" never had anything to do with a derogatory term for a Chinese person, so again, only an unreasonable person would be offended.

(I can understand being concerned about offending a layperson who doesn't know where the name comes from...but honestly: Who announces the name of a trick in this day and age? "For my next trick, I'll do a little something called Chink-a-Chink." Nobody does that! )

Oh I don't dissagree, I was simply offering an explanation as to why it may be considered offensive.

Actually you've hit on on of my pet peeves there, you do see magicians introducing "chop cups" and "silks" etc a fair bit though.

Heh. Yeah, that's true.

I'm thinking naming each trick before you do it would be an easy way to do a good impression of a bad magician. "And now, ladies and gentlemen, the multiplying balls! Guess what this single ball is about to do."

How about "The King of Clubs" from Tarbell?

If Magic Café did have the "Like" button then Facebook might end up buying the Café?

I'm not normally into political correctness, but I shake my head when I see those pages.

That trick actually still could be done. Sometime back there were posts about this particular trick on another magic forum.

In defense of Tarbell, when he wrote the original course, Al Jolson was one of the most popular entertainers in the world. However, most white people had no idea how offensive the blackface act he did was to a large percentage of our population.

But there is no reason that the card would need to change as indicated in the original. For example, during the first half of the 1970's it could have changed into Elvis Presley. Or it could have changed into Liberace. If we wanted to do this trick these days, we would need to find a corresponding contemporary performer.

I played around with this last week, and while the craftsmanship and appearance were very nice, the actual operation was terrible. I've never had to slam a cup so hard in my life to get it to work. Perhaps with a different set of balls it might work better, but with the ones supplied I found it to be virtually useless.

Andrew,

That is the complaint about the first run of the cup, so it looks like they have not corrected the problem.

I got the cup and had to switch out the balls for an adjustable set I had (RNTII, I believe), which work flawlessly, so problem solved.

Fantasma should have fixed the problem BEFORE selling the cups again, rather than making the customer solve it. But the cup itself is extremely nice.

Cheers,
Jerry

Jerry or Andrew,

Can either of you tell me if the cup is a different color than the old one? In the add it looks there is a green dragon on the cup and bag and an orange ball.

Thanks,
Jorey

I can only assume it is the same quality. I say this because while in New York a few years back (right before they became unavailable) I was at fantasma and was able to ask David Roth personally about the product. I remember him saying that they would be out soon until they could get the manufacturer to make more. So, I'm guessing this is just the next run from the same manufacturer. Could be wrong though.

-Lee

The cup I got is dark, with red balls. I specifically asked to have a dark one, not the lighter one that appears in some recent photos. There's a dragon on the cup.

The set looks like the photo in their auction site ad: http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll......00521215

Better to buy directly from Fantasma, though, since the $79.95 price includes free shipping (the auction site has a stiff shipping charge).

Cheers,
Jerry

Thanks, Jerry!

Does anyone know if this is the same coloring and quality as the first run?

Thanks.