I figure I should just write about this now while I'm here and thinking of it. This is probably going to be a rambling mess so bear with me and try to make sense of all this.
I think we're all familiar with an "out" where when something backfires you can make it seem like you meant to do that the entire time. A classic example is using the Invisible Deck for when you lose control of a selected card or a spectator lies about what their card is. Instead of just being stuck, you use your out to bring things to a successful conclusion.
I'm going to tangent for a moment to say that I feel like the ID is always put up to use as an out but it seems, to me, to be a really shitty out. It seems so contrived that I wonder if anyone is actually using it as an out and, if they do, are people actually being fooled by it? Like, "Here, take any card. I'll shuffle it back into the deck, and when I wave these two red Aces over the top, you'll notice one card pop up between them! Your chosen card, in fact, the six of clubs! ...That wasn't your card? What was your card? The five of diamonds? How strange, because earlier in the day, in this totally different deck of cards I haven't mentioned until now, I reversed one card for no particular reason, the five of diamonds! Oh that stuff with the Aces? Don't worry about that. I was just messing around to bring things around to the real trick, this facedown card in the deck. Ta-dah!"
So we have outs and there are also "ins" or "openers" or bringing something in play to use in another trick. I think a common example of this is making something appear to get into another trick. This could be making a deck of cards appear instead of removing them from your pocket, or doing a particular trick to get yourself set up for another.
Then there's something I've been thinking about which I've dubbed "pre-outs" because I don't know if they've been talked about before. It's not quite getting into a trick and if you end up needing an out, the out would be a whole different thing that I think would be too big to call an out. It's like if the throwaway action of the out is put at the beginning of another trick and sometimes you don't even need the other trick. The pre-out.
I'll explain.
You do the trick I described the other day, ARCAANE. Your spectator says "Hey, lemme see those cards." You say, "Why, do you think they're all the same? Because they are. But these aren't, check them out. All different, right?" and you proceed to do your other ACAAN routine.
You're holding a deck of cards and ask someone to name one. You snap your fingers and say "And your card, the three of clubs, jumps to the top of the deck..." as you turn the top card to show that it's the Queen of hearts "...and turns into the Queen of hearts. Ta-dah! No, let's see. Where's the three?" and you launch into your ambitious card.
Every so often things will go right for you and you can stop at the beginning. They don't want to see the deck, and you've performed an awesome trick. The card they named is actually on top, and it looks too good to be true. Those are the times that you're hoping for, but since they won't happen that often you have the "real" effect that you're planning to perform anyway. I wouldn't consider them outs because to me an out is if you mess up. With a pre-out, you're expecting it to not work the bulk of the time. When you get lucky, you shut up and take credit for the stronger miracle than the one you were going to perform.
These are just two (probably shitty) examples of pre-outs. I wouldn't consider them ins because you're not doing one thing to do another (in the minds of the audience) it's all just part of the same thing. The pre-out is considered part of the procedure of the bigger trick. I wouldn't consider it an out, because you're not expecting it to work in the first place. (I should probably stop saying ARCAANE won't work, because it has for me. But I would still treat it as a throw away if I got busted on it and move on to another ACAAN.)
Pre-outs.
Thoughts?
- Andster
Wednesday, November 2, 2016
Monday, October 31, 2016
A.R.C.A.A.N.E
I was trying to come up with a name so that I could call this trick S.H.I.T.C.A.A.N but I couldn't think of something that fits. So 'A Random Card At Any Number, Easy' it is, although I reserve the right to change this because I'm still not in love with the name. I've only performed this twice but I got great reactions both times. I'm sure I'm not the only person to do this, in fact I would be shocked if I was. Still, I feel like this is something that could be overlooked. Give it a shot.
If you were buying this trick, the ad copy might look something like this:
A performance for my wife went pretty much exactly as described above. I shuffled, she touched any card and I gave her the chance to change her mind. I shuffled again, had her name a number and dealt down (I believe it was 17) cards to find her selection. She was very impressed,
A performance for a friend who's always asking if I'm working on anything new went the same way. If anything, he was more impressed.
The secret is exactly what you think it is. A one-way forcing deck. As I said, I know I'm not the first person to do this because it's probably the first thing someone does when they pick up one of these. It works (or at least worked in two isolated cases) though so it might be worth messing around with. If anything else, it could work as an opener (or what I'm going to call a "pre-out" because I have a specific scenario in mind that I'll write about in the future and I don't know if there's already a term for it) for a real ACAAN.
Let me know what you think if you give this a shot. Whoever's reading this. I'm just screaming into the abyss at this point.
- Andster
If you were buying this trick, the ad copy might look something like this:
A deck of cards is shuffled. The spectator can shuffle if they choose. The spectator selects a card, changing their mind several times if they wish. The card is returned to the deck and shuffled again. A number is named between 1 and 52 and the cards are slowly dealt to the chosen number, where the spectator's selection is found! No memory work, no forces, no complicated sleights, no instant stooges, or assistants! Perform this in minutes!
A performance for my wife went pretty much exactly as described above. I shuffled, she touched any card and I gave her the chance to change her mind. I shuffled again, had her name a number and dealt down (I believe it was 17) cards to find her selection. She was very impressed,
A performance for a friend who's always asking if I'm working on anything new went the same way. If anything, he was more impressed.
The secret is exactly what you think it is. A one-way forcing deck. As I said, I know I'm not the first person to do this because it's probably the first thing someone does when they pick up one of these. It works (or at least worked in two isolated cases) though so it might be worth messing around with. If anything else, it could work as an opener (or what I'm going to call a "pre-out" because I have a specific scenario in mind that I'll write about in the future and I don't know if there's already a term for it) for a real ACAAN.
Let me know what you think if you give this a shot. Whoever's reading this. I'm just screaming into the abyss at this point.
- Andster
Wednesday, October 19, 2016
Field Test: Hallmark
Recently, my wife celebrated her birthday and because I'm broke I showed her a magic trick instead of getting her a real gift. Luckily she loves me and this blatant display of cheap-assery didn't end in divorce. The trick that I used is one that Andy from The Jerx posted last year called Hallmark. It's also featured in his book which I intend to write about one day here.
It's no secret that I'm a big fan of Andy's work. His MCJ blog is what got me started in blogging ten years ago, and when he came back with The Jerx it inspired me to pull the trigger and get my blog going again. He is incredibly creative and I liked the concept behind this trick from the moment I saw it.
Instead of mailing the birthday card, I gave it to her in the morning and told her to hold on to it as the day went on. We had a bunch of things to do during the day, some fun some not, but I planned on performing the trick over dinner. I did a version of his Reverse Psychology Force but I don't think it went well, Honestly, being my wife, she's familiar with the idea of forces in general. It's not so much that I bungled the force, it's that I think there's very little I can do to make her think she's getting a free choice. I do think the RPF is a great idea and would work well for a lay audience, but for this particular performance I probably should have done something else.
In reading the description of the trick, I thought "There's no way in hell this torn-corner handling is going to work." I was wrong, and I think that's my favorite part of the trick. Getting your spectator to ring in your duplicate while vanishing the pieces feels so weird, but it works. Granted, I have an incredibly small sample size of one but I can see this working in the real world for sure. Really though, Andy puts out magic that works so if he says he uses it, it's not just a pipe dream. Being seated made this part incredibly easy too because I was able to just drop the pieces on the seat next to me instead of trying to get into my pocket casually.
Overall my wife really liked the trick. I asked her about it later, wanting to get her thoughts on it but also not wanting to destroy the whole thing for her. She said, "Well, I'm pretty sure you forced the card on me so I'm also pretty sure the card in the envelope wasn't the same physical card I picked. But I don't know where the other card went, either." So for someone who knows a bit about magic just from being associated with me, I think that's pretty good. I definitely think this would work quite well for someone with no magic background.
A couple thoughts I've had:
I could see this working well for the professional magician as a closer or an encore type trick. Give a card to the birthday kid or host of the event and have them hold it the whole time. At the end of the show bring them up and do the trick. Inside the envelope is a custom printed greeting card saying "Thanks for having me" or "Have a magical birthday" or some other crap. Have your contact info printed on the back of the greeting card. Put a couple strips of double sided tape on the inside of the greeting card so that after you show the playing card is healed and the corner matches, you can quickly tape the playing card inside the greeting card leaving them with a reminder of the magic that also has your contact info on it.
I don't remember if I wrote about this before (I think I did, but I'm going to say it again so it's all together), Hallmark would go well with The Envelope Concept. You're losing the signed card aspect, but I think the torn corner works well enough. I love the idea of creating a long-lasting piece of wonder with the spectator and this handling would make it more accessible.
I might be overthinking this, but I feel like taking a piece of the card that's not the index corner could make this slightly stronger. I haven't tested this beyond seeing if it was easy enough to tear out a middle section of card (it is), but I think it's worth exploration. I feel like if you were to tear a card into eight pieces and have someone pick one, you only have a 25% chance of getting an index corner while you have a 75% chance of getting something else. Again, I'm probably overthinking this and running without being chased and all that jazz, but it's something to consider.
I think that's all I wanted to say. I don't know; I've been writing this off and on for about a week now. Having a kid is a pain in the ass sometimes. But definitely check out Hallmark and if you like it and the other things on the blog, consider picking up the book.
- Andster
It's no secret that I'm a big fan of Andy's work. His MCJ blog is what got me started in blogging ten years ago, and when he came back with The Jerx it inspired me to pull the trigger and get my blog going again. He is incredibly creative and I liked the concept behind this trick from the moment I saw it.
Instead of mailing the birthday card, I gave it to her in the morning and told her to hold on to it as the day went on. We had a bunch of things to do during the day, some fun some not, but I planned on performing the trick over dinner. I did a version of his Reverse Psychology Force but I don't think it went well, Honestly, being my wife, she's familiar with the idea of forces in general. It's not so much that I bungled the force, it's that I think there's very little I can do to make her think she's getting a free choice. I do think the RPF is a great idea and would work well for a lay audience, but for this particular performance I probably should have done something else.
In reading the description of the trick, I thought "There's no way in hell this torn-corner handling is going to work." I was wrong, and I think that's my favorite part of the trick. Getting your spectator to ring in your duplicate while vanishing the pieces feels so weird, but it works. Granted, I have an incredibly small sample size of one but I can see this working in the real world for sure. Really though, Andy puts out magic that works so if he says he uses it, it's not just a pipe dream. Being seated made this part incredibly easy too because I was able to just drop the pieces on the seat next to me instead of trying to get into my pocket casually.
Overall my wife really liked the trick. I asked her about it later, wanting to get her thoughts on it but also not wanting to destroy the whole thing for her. She said, "Well, I'm pretty sure you forced the card on me so I'm also pretty sure the card in the envelope wasn't the same physical card I picked. But I don't know where the other card went, either." So for someone who knows a bit about magic just from being associated with me, I think that's pretty good. I definitely think this would work quite well for someone with no magic background.
A couple thoughts I've had:
I could see this working well for the professional magician as a closer or an encore type trick. Give a card to the birthday kid or host of the event and have them hold it the whole time. At the end of the show bring them up and do the trick. Inside the envelope is a custom printed greeting card saying "Thanks for having me" or "Have a magical birthday" or some other crap. Have your contact info printed on the back of the greeting card. Put a couple strips of double sided tape on the inside of the greeting card so that after you show the playing card is healed and the corner matches, you can quickly tape the playing card inside the greeting card leaving them with a reminder of the magic that also has your contact info on it.
I don't remember if I wrote about this before (I think I did, but I'm going to say it again so it's all together), Hallmark would go well with The Envelope Concept. You're losing the signed card aspect, but I think the torn corner works well enough. I love the idea of creating a long-lasting piece of wonder with the spectator and this handling would make it more accessible.
I might be overthinking this, but I feel like taking a piece of the card that's not the index corner could make this slightly stronger. I haven't tested this beyond seeing if it was easy enough to tear out a middle section of card (it is), but I think it's worth exploration. I feel like if you were to tear a card into eight pieces and have someone pick one, you only have a 25% chance of getting an index corner while you have a 75% chance of getting something else. Again, I'm probably overthinking this and running without being chased and all that jazz, but it's something to consider.
I think that's all I wanted to say. I don't know; I've been writing this off and on for about a week now. Having a kid is a pain in the ass sometimes. But definitely check out Hallmark and if you like it and the other things on the blog, consider picking up the book.
- Andster
Friday, September 30, 2016
The Announcement!
It's been a while since I've posted, but I'm finally ready to spill the beans on something that's been in the works for a while now. As I said in my previous post, there's been hints in everything I've posted this calendar year. If you would like to figure out the news on your own, quit reading now.
***SPOILERS AHEAD***
Last month my wife and I welcomed our first child, a wonderful baby boy. He's sleeping in his swing as I write this and just looks absolutely adorable. I know I don't update this blog very often, and having a kid has really made it harder to find the effort to do anything. The first few weeks were really rough and I just wanted to do nothing but sleep. It's starting to get a little better so I hope I can get back into the swing of things soon. I do have a lot that I want to talk about.
As I said above, I've been dropping hints about it all year long. As you can imagine I've been really excited about it and have been dying to talk but my wife and I kept it pretty low-key. I think the blog was really the first place I announced it in public, albeit extremely cryptically.
I've always been a fan of the "everything's been in front of you the whole time if you only knew where to look" plot device. So naturally, I had to drop come clues in the blog. I went about it in probably the lamest way possible, but it was easy enough for me to stick to. If you look at the first letter of all the post titles in January, (in chronological order, not the order they are in on the page) you'll see that they spell out 'I'M A DAD'. Also, in the first post of the year I added at the end "I'll post next in August, alluding to the due date.
The couple posts I made in February and March had nothing to do with anything, but things picked back up with my only post in April. Sticking with the first letter theme, the first letter of each paragraph in that post spells out 'HINT TITLES' trying to point people towards reading the post titles. The weakest part of this whole thing in my opinion is the paragraph for the letter E. Although that's a genuine question I have, I shoehorned it in there like nobody's business. I needed something for the letter E and I couldn't come up with anything so I did that. I think it worked out in a way because (at least to me) it seems so out of place that it might hint that there's something more to be seen there.
The titles of the rest of the posts up until now, including the one in April, spell out 'IT'S A BOY' because I found out I was having a son and wanted to share that too. Then I quit writing because I got super busy and then the baby came and everything got even busier.
I'm going to try to get back into posting again. I've got a couple new magic products I would like to talk about. I also have no plans to hide messages in my blog posts again, at least not in the near future so feel free to take things at face value. I can't promise I won't do something cryptic again sometime but it'll have to be something big because, honestly, this whole thing was kind of a pain in the ass to set up.
- Dadster
***SPOILERS AHEAD***
Last month my wife and I welcomed our first child, a wonderful baby boy. He's sleeping in his swing as I write this and just looks absolutely adorable. I know I don't update this blog very often, and having a kid has really made it harder to find the effort to do anything. The first few weeks were really rough and I just wanted to do nothing but sleep. It's starting to get a little better so I hope I can get back into the swing of things soon. I do have a lot that I want to talk about.
As I said above, I've been dropping hints about it all year long. As you can imagine I've been really excited about it and have been dying to talk but my wife and I kept it pretty low-key. I think the blog was really the first place I announced it in public, albeit extremely cryptically.
I've always been a fan of the "everything's been in front of you the whole time if you only knew where to look" plot device. So naturally, I had to drop come clues in the blog. I went about it in probably the lamest way possible, but it was easy enough for me to stick to. If you look at the first letter of all the post titles in January, (in chronological order, not the order they are in on the page) you'll see that they spell out 'I'M A DAD'. Also, in the first post of the year I added at the end "I'll post next in August, alluding to the due date.
The couple posts I made in February and March had nothing to do with anything, but things picked back up with my only post in April. Sticking with the first letter theme, the first letter of each paragraph in that post spells out 'HINT TITLES' trying to point people towards reading the post titles. The weakest part of this whole thing in my opinion is the paragraph for the letter E. Although that's a genuine question I have, I shoehorned it in there like nobody's business. I needed something for the letter E and I couldn't come up with anything so I did that. I think it worked out in a way because (at least to me) it seems so out of place that it might hint that there's something more to be seen there.
The titles of the rest of the posts up until now, including the one in April, spell out 'IT'S A BOY' because I found out I was having a son and wanted to share that too. Then I quit writing because I got super busy and then the baby came and everything got even busier.
I'm going to try to get back into posting again. I've got a couple new magic products I would like to talk about. I also have no plans to hide messages in my blog posts again, at least not in the near future so feel free to take things at face value. I can't promise I won't do something cryptic again sometime but it'll have to be something big because, honestly, this whole thing was kind of a pain in the ass to set up.
- Dadster
Monday, August 15, 2016
Yeah, it's a Clip Show Post
I feel like these posts where I just brain dump a bunch of random stuff I've been meaning to say but aren't worth a whole post are the blogging equivalent of a clip show. Although since clip shows are made up of things that happened in previous episodes, maybe the analogy doesn't quite fit. Maybe this is more like the clip show episode Community did where they referenced things that never actually happened and showed clips they made specially for that episode. Yeah, let's go with that one.
A while back I made a post about how I wished there could be more transparency in magic ads. Recently, Jeff Copeland released a trailer for Blackbird that did pretty much what I was hoping for. This is a perfect example of what I was talking about it my post, so I'm going to take full credit for giving him the idea. I've seen people giving him a lot of grief for doing that, saying exposing the gimmick to lay people is a mistake. I disagree. I think very few laymen will care enough to see and remember the video, but the benefit for magicians to see exactly what they're getting and how it works is high. I look forward to seeing more ads like this in the future.
I've been reading a lot of comics on Reddit lately, and this one really spoke to me. Just replace the word "draw" with "blog" or "perform" or "work on my act" or really, any phrase about being creative in a magical capacity. It's not always being tired, but it does always seem that I get creative and motivated when I'm busy with something else.
I also like this comic, both as a funny magic gag and a visualization of my existential dread.
About a year ago I wrote about a presentation I saw on Reddit that I really liked, The Envelope Concept. I've been thinking about it again the past couple days, and I really think that combining that with this trick from Andy at The Jerx would be an awesome way to go. You lose a bit with the card not being signed, but you gain it back somewhat with the torn corner. I think they're both very strong ideas on their own and combining them doesn't necessarily make it the best idea, but I think it becomes it's own cool thing. I'm going to work on this a bit and see how it works.
I'm about ready to make an announcement soon. It's not very magic related, but it's pretty neat. I think, anyway. I know nobody's reading this thing so I could probably just say it now and it wouldn't spoil the surprise before it's due, but I'm not gonna risk something so time sensitive that I've been working on for a year. You know what though? I have been dropping hints. There are major clues in the posts that I've put up this calendar year. Find them and you'll know exactly what I've been referencing. There's no clues in this post, though. Just take what I said at face value.
Until next time.
- Andster
A while back I made a post about how I wished there could be more transparency in magic ads. Recently, Jeff Copeland released a trailer for Blackbird that did pretty much what I was hoping for. This is a perfect example of what I was talking about it my post, so I'm going to take full credit for giving him the idea. I've seen people giving him a lot of grief for doing that, saying exposing the gimmick to lay people is a mistake. I disagree. I think very few laymen will care enough to see and remember the video, but the benefit for magicians to see exactly what they're getting and how it works is high. I look forward to seeing more ads like this in the future.
I've been reading a lot of comics on Reddit lately, and this one really spoke to me. Just replace the word "draw" with "blog" or "perform" or "work on my act" or really, any phrase about being creative in a magical capacity. It's not always being tired, but it does always seem that I get creative and motivated when I'm busy with something else.
I also like this comic, both as a funny magic gag and a visualization of my existential dread.
About a year ago I wrote about a presentation I saw on Reddit that I really liked, The Envelope Concept. I've been thinking about it again the past couple days, and I really think that combining that with this trick from Andy at The Jerx would be an awesome way to go. You lose a bit with the card not being signed, but you gain it back somewhat with the torn corner. I think they're both very strong ideas on their own and combining them doesn't necessarily make it the best idea, but I think it becomes it's own cool thing. I'm going to work on this a bit and see how it works.
I'm about ready to make an announcement soon. It's not very magic related, but it's pretty neat. I think, anyway. I know nobody's reading this thing so I could probably just say it now and it wouldn't spoil the surprise before it's due, but I'm not gonna risk something so time sensitive that I've been working on for a year. You know what though? I have been dropping hints. There are major clues in the posts that I've put up this calendar year. Find them and you'll know exactly what I've been referencing. There's no clues in this post, though. Just take what I said at face value.
Until next time.
- Andster
Sunday, August 7, 2016
Okay, it's Tinfoil Hat Time
I've been watching this season of America's Got Talent, per usual, just not writing about it because last season I didn't have much to say besides "That was neat." I think it's no secret that I'm pretty biased towards the magic acts, though I do still love pretty much any act that's not a singer. So far I've been pretty happy with the acts that have been going through.
The other night, sideshow duo Ryan Stock and AmberLynn had a bit of a mishap during their live performance. The official AGT video cuts off the worst looking part, but this video on NBC's site shows the whole thing (skip ahead to about 1:45). Definitely some scary stuff and I'm very glad nobody was seriously hurt.
However.
What if they did that on purpose? Hear me out. I know it's infinitely more likely that they suffered mechanical issues and had an accident, especially considering how (rightfully) terrified Ryan looked when he got hit. But I think a case could be made that this is all just a well-crafted publicity stunt.
Even though I like their act, I think the smart bet is that they would never win the whole show. I think it's too shocking, gross, scary, whatever word you want to pick for mainstream America to vote for. I think it's amazing that they made it as far as they did, because in my limited memory of the show, acts like that usually get eliminated pretty early on. I think they might have realized that too and then made a decision.
Realizing that, in all likelihood, you're going home after this performance you can do one of two things. You can do your best, ramp it up, and hope that somehow you get the votes. Or you can accept the fact that you're going home and give the people something to talk about to keep your name in the news and really get a push in the press.
So maybe you swallow a couple swords and then get shot in the neck with a blunt arrow from a low-powered bow. Personally, I am more surprised that the legitimate stunt went wrong and just happened to not kill him than I would be to find out the guy who sticks drills and chainsaws in his face took one for the team.
So, again, it's much more likely that this is all just a legitimate accident that fortunately didn't leave anyone seriously hurt. But if somewhere down the line it turns out that they did it all on purpose, I would not be surprised in the least.
- Andster
The other night, sideshow duo Ryan Stock and AmberLynn had a bit of a mishap during their live performance. The official AGT video cuts off the worst looking part, but this video on NBC's site shows the whole thing (skip ahead to about 1:45). Definitely some scary stuff and I'm very glad nobody was seriously hurt.
However.
What if they did that on purpose? Hear me out. I know it's infinitely more likely that they suffered mechanical issues and had an accident, especially considering how (rightfully) terrified Ryan looked when he got hit. But I think a case could be made that this is all just a well-crafted publicity stunt.
Even though I like their act, I think the smart bet is that they would never win the whole show. I think it's too shocking, gross, scary, whatever word you want to pick for mainstream America to vote for. I think it's amazing that they made it as far as they did, because in my limited memory of the show, acts like that usually get eliminated pretty early on. I think they might have realized that too and then made a decision.
Realizing that, in all likelihood, you're going home after this performance you can do one of two things. You can do your best, ramp it up, and hope that somehow you get the votes. Or you can accept the fact that you're going home and give the people something to talk about to keep your name in the news and really get a push in the press.
So maybe you swallow a couple swords and then get shot in the neck with a blunt arrow from a low-powered bow. Personally, I am more surprised that the legitimate stunt went wrong and just happened to not kill him than I would be to find out the guy who sticks drills and chainsaws in his face took one for the team.
So, again, it's much more likely that this is all just a legitimate accident that fortunately didn't leave anyone seriously hurt. But if somewhere down the line it turns out that they did it all on purpose, I would not be surprised in the least.
- Andster
Monday, July 18, 2016
Breaking the Magician's Code, Bo Burnham, and Bob Ross
What are three things that are all on Netflix beginning with the letter B that I love?
Look, I know a magician saying they like Breaking the Magician's Code is a pretty unpopular opinion and I hope I don't get crucified for this. I remember back when they were first airing everyone was up in arms about the whole thing and saying it was the worst thing to ever happen for magic. That first special aired almost 20 years ago and, as far as I can tell, magic's still around. I think my experience with it might be different because most of the close up stuff I do was never revealed on the show. A stage magician might have a different take on the whole thing.
I love watching magic, and I also love learning magic and seeing how it's done. I can appreciate a beautiful method the same way I appreciate a beautiful trick. Granted, most of the things revealed on the show fall very short of "beautiful method" but still, every now and then I get a moment of "Huh, that's pretty clever." I feel like a lot of things shown were made up just for the show. One thing that immediately comes to mind is being chained to a ladder and raised above flaming spikes, only to appear later in an adjacent building. You know, that old classic of magic.
I'm not saying revealing those tricks was the greatest thing to happen to the world of magic, but I also don't think it was the worst thing ether. If anything, it got people talking about magic again. No such thing as bad press and all that, right? I remember when Mindfreak was a thing and people would ask me about his stuff. Instead of calling bullshit on it, I could go "I know, that was cool right? But how about this?" and show them something of my own. Like I said, I know it's a divisive topic but personally, I like being able to put them on in the background and watch some magic. Maybe one day Netflix will get the World's Greatest Magic specials, or some David Copperfield or David Blaine. Until then, I'm going to watch these. I remember watching when it originally aired and, for some reason, watching this doofus slide down a trap door while looking at the camera made me laugh my ass off.
Bo Burnham is one of the best comedians I've seen. I used to think he was just a funny song guy, which I'm not really a fan of. I never gave him a chance before and I regret that. His is very witty and I love the wordplay he uses. He also really makes you think about things. The two specials of his that are currently on Netflix, what. and Make Happy are both incredible. They both kind of push the line between stand-up comedy and performance art and both of them have left me at the end kind of sitting in silence going "Damn." The ending of Make Happy where he talks about us all being performers really hit home with me. They're both fantastic specials and well worth a watch or several. I do want to link the ending of what. right now because it's fantastic but you should watch the whole thing. Dude is a rockstar and he's fucking killing it. I hope he's happy.
Look, I know a magician saying they like Breaking the Magician's Code is a pretty unpopular opinion and I hope I don't get crucified for this. I remember back when they were first airing everyone was up in arms about the whole thing and saying it was the worst thing to ever happen for magic. That first special aired almost 20 years ago and, as far as I can tell, magic's still around. I think my experience with it might be different because most of the close up stuff I do was never revealed on the show. A stage magician might have a different take on the whole thing.
I love watching magic, and I also love learning magic and seeing how it's done. I can appreciate a beautiful method the same way I appreciate a beautiful trick. Granted, most of the things revealed on the show fall very short of "beautiful method" but still, every now and then I get a moment of "Huh, that's pretty clever." I feel like a lot of things shown were made up just for the show. One thing that immediately comes to mind is being chained to a ladder and raised above flaming spikes, only to appear later in an adjacent building. You know, that old classic of magic.
I'm not saying revealing those tricks was the greatest thing to happen to the world of magic, but I also don't think it was the worst thing ether. If anything, it got people talking about magic again. No such thing as bad press and all that, right? I remember when Mindfreak was a thing and people would ask me about his stuff. Instead of calling bullshit on it, I could go "I know, that was cool right? But how about this?" and show them something of my own. Like I said, I know it's a divisive topic but personally, I like being able to put them on in the background and watch some magic. Maybe one day Netflix will get the World's Greatest Magic specials, or some David Copperfield or David Blaine. Until then, I'm going to watch these. I remember watching when it originally aired and, for some reason, watching this doofus slide down a trap door while looking at the camera made me laugh my ass off.
Bo Burnham is one of the best comedians I've seen. I used to think he was just a funny song guy, which I'm not really a fan of. I never gave him a chance before and I regret that. His is very witty and I love the wordplay he uses. He also really makes you think about things. The two specials of his that are currently on Netflix, what. and Make Happy are both incredible. They both kind of push the line between stand-up comedy and performance art and both of them have left me at the end kind of sitting in silence going "Damn." The ending of Make Happy where he talks about us all being performers really hit home with me. They're both fantastic specials and well worth a watch or several. I do want to link the ending of what. right now because it's fantastic but you should watch the whole thing. Dude is a rockstar and he's fucking killing it. I hope he's happy.
The Joy of Painting with Bob Ross is on Netflix now too, and I could not be happier. One thing I wish I had in this life is artistic talent and Bob Ross makes me feel like I could paint like him. Maybe one day I'll get a paint sent and give it a shot. For now, I'm content with just watching and relaxing while he creates these beautiful scenes. It's amazing to me to see how he starts with nothing and these amazing landscapes just appear effortlessly. Even hearing him describe what he's doing as a twist of the wrist turns a blob of paint into waves or mountains blows my mind.
Bob Ross is the best magician I've ever seen.
- Andster
Friday, July 15, 2016
A Few Pictures
Back in the old days of this blog, I used to post pictures from time to time. I'd like to get back to that a little bit, so I'm going to show just a couple things from my performance at the festival a couple weeks back. As in the past, I've edited the pictures a bit to remove my face and other things that might identify me. I'm still trying to hold on to anonymity (probably stupidly and fruitlessly) for the time being. Enjoy!
Finishing off this set with the rope escape. You can kind of see that the crowd dwindled a bit by this point, which was a problem I had all day. Thinking of this now, maybe I should do the rope escape first and close with the jacket. This was actually a decent tie, done by a former Scoutmaster. The last tie of the day was done by a couple kids and it was...not good.
The second day, about mid-day with my turning tricks sign. This pitch was a lot cooler, at least in the morning. My setup was a bit more streamlined this time since I was working primarily out of the briefcase. The jacket and rope were still in the backpack under the whiteboard, just in case.
 |
| Pitch from the first day. |
This is my pitch from the first day, taken at the end of the day when I had given up on the escape show and started doing the straitjacket and rope escape. You can see my donation sign on the chalkboard with the money bag clipped on the back.
 |
| Straitjacket escape. |
Mid-escape sometime in the middle of the day. Decent crowd. By this point I had bent the chair in the background, which is why I'm standing on the ground.
 |
| Another angle. |
Another angle of the straitjacket escape. I honestly couldn't tell you what number this one was, but I can safely say I was feeling the heat and the exertion by this point.
 |
| Rope escape. |
 |
| Funny sign. |
The second day, about mid-day with my turning tricks sign. This pitch was a lot cooler, at least in the morning. My setup was a bit more streamlined this time since I was working primarily out of the briefcase. The jacket and rope were still in the backpack under the whiteboard, just in case.
Well, there you have it! Hopefully these help illustrate the story of the festival a bit better. If I missed something identifying, please don't track me down. Not that anyone's actually reading this at this point anyway.
- Andster
Tuesday, July 12, 2016
Straitjacket Advice
A while back, I wrote about escapes and the problem I have with how they're being presented. I've come up with a way that I think makes escapes more interesting, and part of that is getting rid of anything that screams "magic trick" about them. I always hate when you see someone trying to escape from a car, a box, a building, a whatever, that suddenly goes wrong and lo and behold they're safe. That's a magic trick, not an escape.
Part of the presentation I'm working on is bringing the escapes out from behind a curtain and into full view. I think it becomes more interesting as a demonstration of skill than as something mystical. Now, that doesn't mean you actually need to have those skills in order to present it that way. Go ahead and use a gimmicked lock that you pretend to pick. I would rather do that in full view than just pull open the lock behind cover.
All that brings me around to the straitjacket I recently purchased. I've wanted one for years, literally over a decade. I could never bring myself to pull the trigger on one though. I finally ordered one because I decided to do an escape themed show for a festival and wanted to use the jacket as a closer. I always read that escaping from a regulation straitjacket isn't as hard as the audience thinks and I decided that, in the interest of realism, I would get the real jacket and do it the "right" way.
I'm an idiot.
While a regulation jacket isn't as hard as a lay audience believes, it certainly isn't easy, either. At least not for me. I'm a big guy, not necessarily "big" meaning "morbidly obese" but big and broad-shouldered. I get a lot of people asking what football position I played when they first meet me. I used to describe myself as more Penn than Teller, but then Penn lost a ton of weight and I can't use that anymore. I can't buy sport coats off the rack at most stores because putting my arms to the side will cause me to fat guy in a little coat. You get the idea.
I got the biggest Humane Restraint jacket I could get. It fits fine, but I have to be very careful about how tight the straps get pulled. Otherwise, I have a hell of a time pulling an arm out of the sleeve. I have gotten stuck before, several times, though thankfully none in actual performance (so far). I can get the arms over my head easily enough, it's just getting one arm out to undo the buckles that really kills me.
I also have an issue with the crotch strap. This is 100% on me for not researching further, but it has become an issue. When I picture a straitjacket, I picture a leather strap attached at the front with a buckle on the back, just like all the other straps on the jacket. What I got is a nylon strap that can be removed from the jacket entirely, threads from the back to the front and back under and clips in a friction buckle. In my experience, this is very difficult for a lay audience to understand. Even when I demonstrate how it clips before I'm put in the jacket, I still get people struggling to figure it out. It's kind of hard to point when your hands are bound and they're messing around by your ass.
Most importantly, nobody knows what a jacket is supposed to look like. I pattered about the canvas and the straps and how some people used fake jackets but this was 100% real and everyone took my word for it. I realized very quickly that nobody cares and they will believe what you say. I absolutely believe I could sell a gimmicked jacket as regulation and not get called on it.
All of this leads me to saying, I regret purchasing a real straitjacket. Given the opportunity to do it again, I would buy the gimmicked jacket in a heartbeat. From my research after the fact, I've found that some gimmicked jackets have larger arm holes to help facilitate slipping an arm out, they're made with softer canvas so you can manipulate the buckles through them, they include a way to get slack with the arms (not that I've had a problem with that, but I'd use the help if I had it), and they have a crotch strap more in line with what I had in mind. All of this would make it a lot easier when you do ten escapes in a day. It would also make me more confident in adding something to the escape, whether it's a time limit or chains or something to make it bigger. Right now, I honestly don't know that I can get out time after time so I make it more of a demonstration than a spectacular escape. It's not what it could be, and I know that.
I think it's a good think to know how to get out of a regulation jacket, but I also think doing it repeatedly is unnecessary work. After working it for one long day at the festival, my shoulder hurt and my thumb was rubbed raw from pulling my arm out. It's a lot of work for a couple minutes of applause. If I had to do it again, I would buy a gimmicked straitjacket. In fact, I may end up buying one in the future anyway.
If you are interested in getting a real straitjacket, I bought mine from Handcuff Warehouse. Their price was reasonable, their shipping was fast, and I have no complaints. I would order from them again in the future.
- Andster
Part of the presentation I'm working on is bringing the escapes out from behind a curtain and into full view. I think it becomes more interesting as a demonstration of skill than as something mystical. Now, that doesn't mean you actually need to have those skills in order to present it that way. Go ahead and use a gimmicked lock that you pretend to pick. I would rather do that in full view than just pull open the lock behind cover.
All that brings me around to the straitjacket I recently purchased. I've wanted one for years, literally over a decade. I could never bring myself to pull the trigger on one though. I finally ordered one because I decided to do an escape themed show for a festival and wanted to use the jacket as a closer. I always read that escaping from a regulation straitjacket isn't as hard as the audience thinks and I decided that, in the interest of realism, I would get the real jacket and do it the "right" way.
I'm an idiot.
While a regulation jacket isn't as hard as a lay audience believes, it certainly isn't easy, either. At least not for me. I'm a big guy, not necessarily "big" meaning "morbidly obese" but big and broad-shouldered. I get a lot of people asking what football position I played when they first meet me. I used to describe myself as more Penn than Teller, but then Penn lost a ton of weight and I can't use that anymore. I can't buy sport coats off the rack at most stores because putting my arms to the side will cause me to fat guy in a little coat. You get the idea.
I got the biggest Humane Restraint jacket I could get. It fits fine, but I have to be very careful about how tight the straps get pulled. Otherwise, I have a hell of a time pulling an arm out of the sleeve. I have gotten stuck before, several times, though thankfully none in actual performance (so far). I can get the arms over my head easily enough, it's just getting one arm out to undo the buckles that really kills me.
I also have an issue with the crotch strap. This is 100% on me for not researching further, but it has become an issue. When I picture a straitjacket, I picture a leather strap attached at the front with a buckle on the back, just like all the other straps on the jacket. What I got is a nylon strap that can be removed from the jacket entirely, threads from the back to the front and back under and clips in a friction buckle. In my experience, this is very difficult for a lay audience to understand. Even when I demonstrate how it clips before I'm put in the jacket, I still get people struggling to figure it out. It's kind of hard to point when your hands are bound and they're messing around by your ass.
Most importantly, nobody knows what a jacket is supposed to look like. I pattered about the canvas and the straps and how some people used fake jackets but this was 100% real and everyone took my word for it. I realized very quickly that nobody cares and they will believe what you say. I absolutely believe I could sell a gimmicked jacket as regulation and not get called on it.
All of this leads me to saying, I regret purchasing a real straitjacket. Given the opportunity to do it again, I would buy the gimmicked jacket in a heartbeat. From my research after the fact, I've found that some gimmicked jackets have larger arm holes to help facilitate slipping an arm out, they're made with softer canvas so you can manipulate the buckles through them, they include a way to get slack with the arms (not that I've had a problem with that, but I'd use the help if I had it), and they have a crotch strap more in line with what I had in mind. All of this would make it a lot easier when you do ten escapes in a day. It would also make me more confident in adding something to the escape, whether it's a time limit or chains or something to make it bigger. Right now, I honestly don't know that I can get out time after time so I make it more of a demonstration than a spectacular escape. It's not what it could be, and I know that.
I think it's a good think to know how to get out of a regulation jacket, but I also think doing it repeatedly is unnecessary work. After working it for one long day at the festival, my shoulder hurt and my thumb was rubbed raw from pulling my arm out. It's a lot of work for a couple minutes of applause. If I had to do it again, I would buy a gimmicked straitjacket. In fact, I may end up buying one in the future anyway.
If you are interested in getting a real straitjacket, I bought mine from Handcuff Warehouse. Their price was reasonable, their shipping was fast, and I have no complaints. I would order from them again in the future.
- Andster
Thursday, July 7, 2016
The Festival, Year Two
This past weekend, I did magic at a festival for the second year in a row. I went in with a grand idea and, like usual, called an audible and changed things up a lot until what I did was nowhere near what I planned to do. I had a lot of fun though, and I'm going to try to recap what went on.
Wear sunscreen. If I could offer you only one tip for the future, wear sunscreen. I forgot all about it on Saturday and unfortunately, my spot was directly in the sun for the first half of the day. As the sun moved I got in to the shade of the building I was set up next to, but it was too late. I've got a nice burn on my arms and face which left me with a weird tanline from my Fitbit and now my face and arms are peeling. I put sunscreen on for Sunday and I don't know if it helped much or not. By that point it just hurt to stand in the sun.
Last year when I worked this festival, all I had was a TV tray with a briefcase on top, usually with a deck of cards sitting on top of that. Nobody had any idea what the hell I was doing. For this year, I bought an easel from Ikea for like $15 that has a dry erase board on one side and a chalkboard on the other side, with a little shelf that folds up. The plan was to do shows throughout the day (more on this later) using the dry erase side to say "MAGIC SHOW! NEXT SHOW XX:XX" as an attention grabber. On the other side, I clipped a canvas bank bag to the shelf and wrote "Thank you for your donation!" After the final hat line, I would turn the whole easel around and collect the money in the bag.
Last year I more or less did the Invisible Deck all day long and had a tip jar out. The plan this year was to do a full show, gathering a crowd and doing it more traditional busking style. I wanted to do escapes, and even bought a straitjacket. I based my routine on Dan Harlan's Pack Small Play Big Escape Act (I bought the whole series last year and have been meaning to write about them. One day.) picking a few highlights and trying to trim the time down but still have it look good.
Yeah, that went to shit after about the second time through. I quickly found out that the sign was getting people's attention, but I wasn't getting people to either wait or come back for the showtimes. At least they knew what I was doing. I went through the whole show, I think, twice. The first time I had a crowd of maybe five people. The second time I had six or seven, but three of them were back from the first show. I found out, unsurprisingly, the straitjacket drew a huge crowd but it came at the end of the show and they all trickled away and didn't tip. I also learned quickly that my hat lines which (I think) are funny when delivered to a crowd sound kinda harsh when delivered one on one.
I changed my sign to read 'STRAITJACKET ESCAPE! NEXT ESCAPE XX:XX" and draped the jacket over the top of my case. I was just going to ditch the rest of the act and to the straitjacket and 100 ft rope escape, which I take just about everywhere just in case. That worked a little better in getting crowds, but I still had a problem getting money from people. I did the jacket escape a few times while standing on a metal folding chair I brought, which is a nice visual and gets more people to stop. Unfortunately, it was a shitty chair and bent when I stepped off it one time so that was the end of that.
I think I ended up doing the jacket about ten times that day. I use an ungimmicked jacket, and let me tell you ten escape in the hot sun all day long is a bitch. By the end of the day, my shoulder hurt, my thumb was rubbed raw from scraping on the canvas of the sleeve, and I was just tired. I didn't know if I was going to be able to do the escape all the next day. What really clinched it for me was when, as I was packing up, I started talking with a couple of teenage girls who were working in a booth next to me. I made a joke about how they could probably escape from a jacket after hearing me all day and I hope it wasn't too boring for them. They said they liked watching and they liked magic and asked if I did other tricks. I grabbed my cards and did a really quick card to mouth trick for them.
They freaked the fuck out. I had been killing myself all day long doing straitjacket escapes and I got the best reaction of the day from a dumb card trick. I needed to think things over.
The next day I scrapped the escapes and brought back my Invisible Deck. I had some other things with me, but for the most part I just did the ID all day long. I set up in my original spot but standing in the direct sun was really hurting so I hunted around for a place to move to. I found an open spot right beside the DJ booth. The MC was a guy I've met a few times here and there and have a good time with. It was nice to set up beside him because he would talk about me throughout the day and I would goof around with him. One time he started a song and then out of nowhere announced, "Andy said he'd dance for the duration of this song. It's nine and a half minutes long. Cheer him on!" I did it. It wasn't pretty, but I did it. Even managed to show someone a trick while shuffling my feet so I didn't quit dancing.
I brought my easel with me again, but instead of doing showtimes I just tried to get something eye-catching to get people to stop. I started the day with "I CAN READ YOUR MIND!" I would see people read it and then kind of do a double take, and then I would say something like, "It's true! Come check this out!" It worked pretty well. I planned ahead and had a business card in each pocket, one with "You're the mindreader..." written on the back and the other with "You tell me!" I figured someone would be smart when I asked their name. Surprisingly, I didn't have to use them at all. After about half the day, I changed my sign to "WILL TURN TRICKS FOR FOOD" which got a lot of laughs and attention. The last hour or so I changed it to "THE BEST MAGIC YOU'LL SEE! ...here..." I really like the funny sign idea, and I would like to keep thinking of more to use for future events.
As I said before, I mostly did the Invisible Deck all day long. I did the Card to Mouth for several people throughout the day, and I used a thumbtip to vanish a silk a few times. I had a lot of fun with that, getting the attention of people in stopped cars or walking on the other side of the street and doing the vanish. That's another thing I would like to explore: long distance magic. Things visual enough to be seen and understood by people far away.
I think that's pretty much the rundown of the day. I had a lot of fun once again, made a pretty good chunk of cash. I think I learned a lot, and am really looking forward to getting back out and doing more festivals. I have a blast doing them and I think I'd like to work on finding more to perform at. We'll see how it goes.
- Andster
Wear sunscreen. If I could offer you only one tip for the future, wear sunscreen. I forgot all about it on Saturday and unfortunately, my spot was directly in the sun for the first half of the day. As the sun moved I got in to the shade of the building I was set up next to, but it was too late. I've got a nice burn on my arms and face which left me with a weird tanline from my Fitbit and now my face and arms are peeling. I put sunscreen on for Sunday and I don't know if it helped much or not. By that point it just hurt to stand in the sun.
Last year when I worked this festival, all I had was a TV tray with a briefcase on top, usually with a deck of cards sitting on top of that. Nobody had any idea what the hell I was doing. For this year, I bought an easel from Ikea for like $15 that has a dry erase board on one side and a chalkboard on the other side, with a little shelf that folds up. The plan was to do shows throughout the day (more on this later) using the dry erase side to say "MAGIC SHOW! NEXT SHOW XX:XX" as an attention grabber. On the other side, I clipped a canvas bank bag to the shelf and wrote "Thank you for your donation!" After the final hat line, I would turn the whole easel around and collect the money in the bag.
Last year I more or less did the Invisible Deck all day long and had a tip jar out. The plan this year was to do a full show, gathering a crowd and doing it more traditional busking style. I wanted to do escapes, and even bought a straitjacket. I based my routine on Dan Harlan's Pack Small Play Big Escape Act (I bought the whole series last year and have been meaning to write about them. One day.) picking a few highlights and trying to trim the time down but still have it look good.
Yeah, that went to shit after about the second time through. I quickly found out that the sign was getting people's attention, but I wasn't getting people to either wait or come back for the showtimes. At least they knew what I was doing. I went through the whole show, I think, twice. The first time I had a crowd of maybe five people. The second time I had six or seven, but three of them were back from the first show. I found out, unsurprisingly, the straitjacket drew a huge crowd but it came at the end of the show and they all trickled away and didn't tip. I also learned quickly that my hat lines which (I think) are funny when delivered to a crowd sound kinda harsh when delivered one on one.
I changed my sign to read 'STRAITJACKET ESCAPE! NEXT ESCAPE XX:XX" and draped the jacket over the top of my case. I was just going to ditch the rest of the act and to the straitjacket and 100 ft rope escape, which I take just about everywhere just in case. That worked a little better in getting crowds, but I still had a problem getting money from people. I did the jacket escape a few times while standing on a metal folding chair I brought, which is a nice visual and gets more people to stop. Unfortunately, it was a shitty chair and bent when I stepped off it one time so that was the end of that.
I think I ended up doing the jacket about ten times that day. I use an ungimmicked jacket, and let me tell you ten escape in the hot sun all day long is a bitch. By the end of the day, my shoulder hurt, my thumb was rubbed raw from scraping on the canvas of the sleeve, and I was just tired. I didn't know if I was going to be able to do the escape all the next day. What really clinched it for me was when, as I was packing up, I started talking with a couple of teenage girls who were working in a booth next to me. I made a joke about how they could probably escape from a jacket after hearing me all day and I hope it wasn't too boring for them. They said they liked watching and they liked magic and asked if I did other tricks. I grabbed my cards and did a really quick card to mouth trick for them.
They freaked the fuck out. I had been killing myself all day long doing straitjacket escapes and I got the best reaction of the day from a dumb card trick. I needed to think things over.
The next day I scrapped the escapes and brought back my Invisible Deck. I had some other things with me, but for the most part I just did the ID all day long. I set up in my original spot but standing in the direct sun was really hurting so I hunted around for a place to move to. I found an open spot right beside the DJ booth. The MC was a guy I've met a few times here and there and have a good time with. It was nice to set up beside him because he would talk about me throughout the day and I would goof around with him. One time he started a song and then out of nowhere announced, "Andy said he'd dance for the duration of this song. It's nine and a half minutes long. Cheer him on!" I did it. It wasn't pretty, but I did it. Even managed to show someone a trick while shuffling my feet so I didn't quit dancing.
I brought my easel with me again, but instead of doing showtimes I just tried to get something eye-catching to get people to stop. I started the day with "I CAN READ YOUR MIND!" I would see people read it and then kind of do a double take, and then I would say something like, "It's true! Come check this out!" It worked pretty well. I planned ahead and had a business card in each pocket, one with "You're the mindreader..." written on the back and the other with "You tell me!" I figured someone would be smart when I asked their name. Surprisingly, I didn't have to use them at all. After about half the day, I changed my sign to "WILL TURN TRICKS FOR FOOD" which got a lot of laughs and attention. The last hour or so I changed it to "THE BEST MAGIC YOU'LL SEE! ...here..." I really like the funny sign idea, and I would like to keep thinking of more to use for future events.
As I said before, I mostly did the Invisible Deck all day long. I did the Card to Mouth for several people throughout the day, and I used a thumbtip to vanish a silk a few times. I had a lot of fun with that, getting the attention of people in stopped cars or walking on the other side of the street and doing the vanish. That's another thing I would like to explore: long distance magic. Things visual enough to be seen and understood by people far away.
I think that's pretty much the rundown of the day. I had a lot of fun once again, made a pretty good chunk of cash. I think I learned a lot, and am really looking forward to getting back out and doing more festivals. I have a blast doing them and I think I'd like to work on finding more to perform at. We'll see how it goes.
- Andster
Saturday, April 23, 2016
I'm Still Here
Hey, it's only been about a month since I posted. That's actually not too bad for me!
It's just going to be a quick update before I head off to work.
Not too much news to report. I've got a lot that I need to do as far as magic goes, but I have actually done very little.
There's a monthly magic show that I've been part of for the past few months, so that's been a lot of fun. It's been forcing me to get up in front of people on a regular basis and perform. The people I've met are fantastic and even though it's a hell of a drive for me to get to (2 hours one way) I'm glad I've been going.
The next show is the beginning of May. I think I'm going to do my mail bag escape for the first time in a couple years. The last time I did it for my old boss's Masonic lodge the lock got stuck. I think I wrote about that before. Hopefully this time goes better.
I've been doing more with escapes recently. I think I've got a way to present them that I don't hate. It's going to take some work to pull off like I want to, but we'll see if I can follow through with it and make something happen.
The festival I performed at last summer is coming up again and I've got myself in. I have a different plan for this year. I'm going to try to actually do shows and have showtimes and see if I can pull a crowd that way as opposed to trying to build a crowd from the little trickle that was coming by. Hopefully it won't rain like hell this year and the crowds will be better.
Looking toward the future, I'm almost ready to make one of the two announcements I've been teasing for a while. One of them is more personal and one is more magic related, and I don't know if one is actually going to happen in a timely fashion. Stay tuned.
Eva can I see bees in a cave? Random, I know but I want to put something out there while I'm thinking of it. That's a palindrome, it reads the same forwards and backwards. Is there a term for a sentence where the words read the same backwards and forwards, but the letters don't? Something like "I am, am I?" or "Fuck you, you fuck!" Is that just a palindrome too? I know the chances of someone reading this and giving me an answer are so small they're nonexistent, but I wanted to get it out there in case.
So long for now, I've gotta get ready for the day job. I've got a couple things to talk about in the near future, hopefully I can get things up early next week. Thanks for sticking around.
- Andster
It's just going to be a quick update before I head off to work.
Not too much news to report. I've got a lot that I need to do as far as magic goes, but I have actually done very little.
There's a monthly magic show that I've been part of for the past few months, so that's been a lot of fun. It's been forcing me to get up in front of people on a regular basis and perform. The people I've met are fantastic and even though it's a hell of a drive for me to get to (2 hours one way) I'm glad I've been going.
The next show is the beginning of May. I think I'm going to do my mail bag escape for the first time in a couple years. The last time I did it for my old boss's Masonic lodge the lock got stuck. I think I wrote about that before. Hopefully this time goes better.
I've been doing more with escapes recently. I think I've got a way to present them that I don't hate. It's going to take some work to pull off like I want to, but we'll see if I can follow through with it and make something happen.
The festival I performed at last summer is coming up again and I've got myself in. I have a different plan for this year. I'm going to try to actually do shows and have showtimes and see if I can pull a crowd that way as opposed to trying to build a crowd from the little trickle that was coming by. Hopefully it won't rain like hell this year and the crowds will be better.
Looking toward the future, I'm almost ready to make one of the two announcements I've been teasing for a while. One of them is more personal and one is more magic related, and I don't know if one is actually going to happen in a timely fashion. Stay tuned.
Eva can I see bees in a cave? Random, I know but I want to put something out there while I'm thinking of it. That's a palindrome, it reads the same forwards and backwards. Is there a term for a sentence where the words read the same backwards and forwards, but the letters don't? Something like "I am, am I?" or "Fuck you, you fuck!" Is that just a palindrome too? I know the chances of someone reading this and giving me an answer are so small they're nonexistent, but I wanted to get it out there in case.
So long for now, I've gotta get ready for the day job. I've got a couple things to talk about in the near future, hopefully I can get things up early next week. Thanks for sticking around.
- Andster
Thursday, March 24, 2016
Gig Recap
A week ago today I had my gig. Against all odds, it actually went pretty well. I definitely prepared more for this than I have in the past, but I also know that I put preparation off for way too long and could have done more. There were between thirty to forty people there spread out across eight different tables. Most of the tables had about six or eight people at them, but there were a couple that only had two or three.
What I had planned were two different routines that ran about seven minutes each. Just about everything was card-focused, which is something I would like to change in the future. I do think I had a good variety though, so it wasn't just a bunch of "pick a card" over and over.
The first routine centered around the four aces with a loose theme of "Luck of the Irish," I produced the aces one at a time, did a modified spectator cuts the aces, twisted the aces, did two sandwich effects with the red and black aces, and finished up with invisible palm aces. I had a lot of fun doing this one, and overall I think it was received well. The sandwich effects could have been routined differently for my tastes. I didn't get the pop I was expecting out of it. I'll talk about that more another time.
The second routine started with an Invisible Deck with a 52-on-1 card, then a slightly modified Color Monte and finished with a version of Mr. Stickman by Richard Sanders. This routine was slightly shorter than the others as far as number of tricks, but it played about the same length of time. I wasn't super happy with this routine and wish I had taken the time to do something better. I didn't have a natural way to work St. Patrick's Day into this set like I did with the other one (which wasn't asked of me, I just thought it would be a nice touch) so I shoehorned it in by making Color Monte a demo of when I got hustled by a leprechaun and turned the stickman into a stick leprechaun.
During the second routine I did mess up twice, once revealing the ace of clubs instead of the ace of spades and once during Color Monte when I let my mouth get ahead of my brain and forgot where I was in the script. Fortunately (or not) these happened at different tables. Both of these could be solved with more practice, especially the Color Monte issue. I also usually use a line when asking them to think of a card that eliminates obvious cards, but I didn't this time. I should make sure I do that in future performances of the Invisible Deck.
I managed to hit all the tables in 57 minutes, just shy of the hour they asked for. The perfectionist in me would have liked to his that hour exactly, but there were no complaints. I was afraid of coming up way too short, so I was happy. I would like to figure out a way to carry water with me or something because I had dry mouth pretty bad by the end of it after talking almost nonstop for an hour. Maybe I could keep a bottle with my stuff and make my way over for a swig after every couple tables. I also need to do better about bringing the magic up to chest level. I spent the whole time bending over working at the tabletop level, and my back killed me when I was done.
All in all, I had a great time and I think it was successful. I learned a lot and now I have some things to think about and work on for the future. Don't know when my next gig will be. I know for sure I'll be doing a festival at the end of June, but maybe something will crop up in the meantime. I'll keep everyone posted.
- Andster
What I had planned were two different routines that ran about seven minutes each. Just about everything was card-focused, which is something I would like to change in the future. I do think I had a good variety though, so it wasn't just a bunch of "pick a card" over and over.
The first routine centered around the four aces with a loose theme of "Luck of the Irish," I produced the aces one at a time, did a modified spectator cuts the aces, twisted the aces, did two sandwich effects with the red and black aces, and finished up with invisible palm aces. I had a lot of fun doing this one, and overall I think it was received well. The sandwich effects could have been routined differently for my tastes. I didn't get the pop I was expecting out of it. I'll talk about that more another time.
The second routine started with an Invisible Deck with a 52-on-1 card, then a slightly modified Color Monte and finished with a version of Mr. Stickman by Richard Sanders. This routine was slightly shorter than the others as far as number of tricks, but it played about the same length of time. I wasn't super happy with this routine and wish I had taken the time to do something better. I didn't have a natural way to work St. Patrick's Day into this set like I did with the other one (which wasn't asked of me, I just thought it would be a nice touch) so I shoehorned it in by making Color Monte a demo of when I got hustled by a leprechaun and turned the stickman into a stick leprechaun.
During the second routine I did mess up twice, once revealing the ace of clubs instead of the ace of spades and once during Color Monte when I let my mouth get ahead of my brain and forgot where I was in the script. Fortunately (or not) these happened at different tables. Both of these could be solved with more practice, especially the Color Monte issue. I also usually use a line when asking them to think of a card that eliminates obvious cards, but I didn't this time. I should make sure I do that in future performances of the Invisible Deck.
I managed to hit all the tables in 57 minutes, just shy of the hour they asked for. The perfectionist in me would have liked to his that hour exactly, but there were no complaints. I was afraid of coming up way too short, so I was happy. I would like to figure out a way to carry water with me or something because I had dry mouth pretty bad by the end of it after talking almost nonstop for an hour. Maybe I could keep a bottle with my stuff and make my way over for a swig after every couple tables. I also need to do better about bringing the magic up to chest level. I spent the whole time bending over working at the tabletop level, and my back killed me when I was done.
All in all, I had a great time and I think it was successful. I learned a lot and now I have some things to think about and work on for the future. Don't know when my next gig will be. I know for sure I'll be doing a festival at the end of June, but maybe something will crop up in the meantime. I'll keep everyone posted.
- Andster
Thursday, March 3, 2016
I Wish
I wish we lived in a world where magicians (or, I suppose, people in general) weren't dicks and we could openly talk about methods when selling a trick. I hate that we have to list off a big thing full of what the trick isn't (which in my mind just invites speculation and guessing more than anything) instead of just being able to say "Here's how it works," and have people still buy it.
I'm sure we all at one point or another have fallen victim to hype of some sort or another in our magic careers. Usually either the list of "No's" makes it sound like the holy grail of magic and in reality you get a convoluted handling to fit the criteria they set, or it turns out that the conditions you normally perform under aren't compatible with the handling. Then there's the issue of demo videos that don't tell the whole story, but that's a whole other post by itself.
What I would love, and I know this is a complete pipe dream fantasy world, is if a new trick told you how it worked and you could make an informed decision about whether or not you wanted to buy it. If you liked it, you'd pay the money and perform it, almost like a licensing fee. If you didn't like it, you would be a reasonable person and not perform it because you haven't purchased the license.
It would be nice to see the gimmick and find out before you drop cash on it that it's flimsy and hard to handle. It would be good to know that you require a stooge to watch what your spectator does before you spend your hard earned money and realize you have no friends. Imagine how the reviews would change. Instead of reading "The 'secret something' can be a bit fiddly, but there are ways around that. You'll know what I mean when you see it." we could have reviews like, "The gimmicked card has a tendency to slide off the top of the deck, but you can use your third finger to hold it. I haven't found it to be that big of an issue in real life."
No longer would we see ads like:
No rough and smooth!
No thread!
No wire!
No magnets!
No puffs of air!
No duplicate!
No switching!
No stooges!
Instead we would see:
This requires a piece of double sided tape and a solid billet peek.
But we will never get to that point because magic is all about the secrets, and magicians are dicks and won't pay if you give them the secret for free. Hell, I'd be happy if more (or any, really) magic shops offered refunds if you don't like a product. Sure, you'd probably still get dicks that just put money down on one trick and keep refunding and buying new ones but I feel like that would take effort and there would be fewer that do that than if you just openly advertised the secret.
I know this will never happen, but I can dream. If I ever get the chance to sell something I've created, I'd like to experiment with some truth in advertising and see how well it goes. Probably about as well as I expect it to, which is why people don't already do this.
You're all a bunch of dicks.
- Andster
I'm sure we all at one point or another have fallen victim to hype of some sort or another in our magic careers. Usually either the list of "No's" makes it sound like the holy grail of magic and in reality you get a convoluted handling to fit the criteria they set, or it turns out that the conditions you normally perform under aren't compatible with the handling. Then there's the issue of demo videos that don't tell the whole story, but that's a whole other post by itself.
What I would love, and I know this is a complete pipe dream fantasy world, is if a new trick told you how it worked and you could make an informed decision about whether or not you wanted to buy it. If you liked it, you'd pay the money and perform it, almost like a licensing fee. If you didn't like it, you would be a reasonable person and not perform it because you haven't purchased the license.
It would be nice to see the gimmick and find out before you drop cash on it that it's flimsy and hard to handle. It would be good to know that you require a stooge to watch what your spectator does before you spend your hard earned money and realize you have no friends. Imagine how the reviews would change. Instead of reading "The 'secret something' can be a bit fiddly, but there are ways around that. You'll know what I mean when you see it." we could have reviews like, "The gimmicked card has a tendency to slide off the top of the deck, but you can use your third finger to hold it. I haven't found it to be that big of an issue in real life."
No longer would we see ads like:
No rough and smooth!
No thread!
No wire!
No magnets!
No puffs of air!
No duplicate!
No switching!
No stooges!
Instead we would see:
This requires a piece of double sided tape and a solid billet peek.
But we will never get to that point because magic is all about the secrets, and magicians are dicks and won't pay if you give them the secret for free. Hell, I'd be happy if more (or any, really) magic shops offered refunds if you don't like a product. Sure, you'd probably still get dicks that just put money down on one trick and keep refunding and buying new ones but I feel like that would take effort and there would be fewer that do that than if you just openly advertised the secret.
I know this will never happen, but I can dream. If I ever get the chance to sell something I've created, I'd like to experiment with some truth in advertising and see how well it goes. Probably about as well as I expect it to, which is why people don't already do this.
You're all a bunch of dicks.
- Andster
Wednesday, February 10, 2016
Sometimes You Just Gotta Go For It
I just booked that show I talked about a couple weeks ago. I debated with myself for a long time, trying to decided if me saying I wasn't ready was just another excuse or was a real feeling. I finally decided that if I could talk them into doing table hopping instead of all eyes on me for an hour, I'd do it.
I'm in the process of developing a parlor-ish show, but there's no way in hell I would feel comfortable doing it that quickly. Probably just another excuse, but it is what it is. For now, I'm sticking with the close-up that I'm comfortable with. Hell, I could probably just jazz an hour but I'm not going to try it.
Long story short, they said walkaround would be fine and they agreed to my price without even blinking, so I guess I've got a show to do. I'll let you know how it goes. I've actually got two performances lined up here, so I guess I'm finally getting back into the swing of things.
I'm almost ready to make an announcement. I'd say stay tuned, but my pageviews are showing that nobody's tuning in the first place. So tune in then stay tuned.
- Andster
I'm in the process of developing a parlor-ish show, but there's no way in hell I would feel comfortable doing it that quickly. Probably just another excuse, but it is what it is. For now, I'm sticking with the close-up that I'm comfortable with. Hell, I could probably just jazz an hour but I'm not going to try it.
Long story short, they said walkaround would be fine and they agreed to my price without even blinking, so I guess I've got a show to do. I'll let you know how it goes. I've actually got two performances lined up here, so I guess I'm finally getting back into the swing of things.
I'm almost ready to make an announcement. I'd say stay tuned, but my pageviews are showing that nobody's tuning in the first place. So tune in then stay tuned.
- Andster
Thursday, February 4, 2016
Magician Gets Punched
A few days ago, I went to a coffee shop to check out a magic show. One of the performers pulled this guy up from the audience to help with a trick who was absolutely hilarious. I wish I had thought to record more of the trick, but I only got the last bit after he failed to find the card.
I don't know if this is funny without the context of his whole interaction with the magician or not, but it was awesome at the time. It made me think that if I were going to do something like this myself, I'd try to come up with a way of scripting it to avoid getting such a wallop. Or maybe pick a kid or something, I dunno.
- Andster
I don't know if this is funny without the context of his whole interaction with the magician or not, but it was awesome at the time. It made me think that if I were going to do something like this myself, I'd try to come up with a way of scripting it to avoid getting such a wallop. Or maybe pick a kid or something, I dunno.
- Andster
Sunday, January 31, 2016
Do I Bite Off More Than I Can Chew?
I have a tendency to agree to things without thinking, then figure out how I can accomplish what I said I'd do. Yesterday I got a call asking if I was interested in doing an hour show for an event in a couple months. Of course I said yes. Then I started thinking about it, and I have doubts that I can fill an hour.
I've got some time to prepare, and I'm sure I have the material and the ability but it's gonna take some work. I usually do more close up, walkaround style things so I'm not sure how well that will translate to this event. I don't know if it's a case of me making another of a million excuses and I should just buckle down and do it.
My saving grace here is that I haven't actually committed to the event, it was basically just saying yes to a middleman who would pass my number on to the event coordinator. I'm supposed to get a call from here to discuss the details, so that would be the time to back out if I'm going to. We'll see what I can come up with in the next couple days. Whatever happens, I'll keep you posted.
- Andster
I've got some time to prepare, and I'm sure I have the material and the ability but it's gonna take some work. I usually do more close up, walkaround style things so I'm not sure how well that will translate to this event. I don't know if it's a case of me making another of a million excuses and I should just buckle down and do it.
My saving grace here is that I haven't actually committed to the event, it was basically just saying yes to a middleman who would pass my number on to the event coordinator. I'm supposed to get a call from here to discuss the details, so that would be the time to back out if I'm going to. We'll see what I can come up with in the next couple days. Whatever happens, I'll keep you posted.
- Andster
Monday, January 25, 2016
About Stooges
After my post from the other day, I started thinking about stooges and their place in magic. This is something I've been meaning to write about for a long time now so I finally forced myself to sit down and do it. Strap in, this'll probably be a long one.
Years ago I probably would have told you that stooges had no place in magic and anyone using them was lazy and should find a way to accomplish the effect without a stooge. Now I realize that it's not so black and white. There are certain scenarios where having a stooge, instant or otherwise, can strengthen the effect. There are also times when using stooges can weaken things overall.
In my opinion a poor use of a stooge is a trick that can only be accomplished by using a stooge. I feel that these tricks look too impossible for an audience and they often correctly assume that the assistant is in on it. An example of this is something I feel like every magician hits on early in their career: Too-Perfect Mind Reading. It's not too much of a stretch to think "Gee, instead of forcing a word or using a center tear or a peek wallet, why don't I just have Bob help me out and tell him to say giraffe?"
Instead, I think a stooge should be used to strengthen an effect. They should be part of the method, not the entire method. An example I've seen of this being tossed around in the past is using another magician who knows the same stacked deck as you in an ACAAN effect. A real spectator names any card, your stooge names the corresponding number in the stack, or vice versa.
You could also use that to eliminate the weak point in a one-ahead routine. The simple 3-Way Test from Mark Wilson's Complete Course in Magic is one of my favorite pieces of impromptu magic, but I don't like that the third stage needs to be a force. Yes, you can get lucky with equivoque or you can use a psychological force, but ideally you could ask people to make completely free choices. Doing that for the first two stages and limiting choices in the third, to me, makes it look fishy. Having a stooge for that third stage can clean things up for you immensely.
I used a stooge a few months ago when I needed to film a video for something. I had been performing the Invisible Deck all day at a festival and towards the end I decided to get some footage of it. Instead of filming the actual routine, I grabbed someone I knew and basically said, "Hey, you're gonna help me make a video real quick. I'm going to ask you to name a card. Say the seven of hearts." I turned the seven around in a normal deck of cards, turned the camera on, and did my ID routine. It was exactly the same as I had done all day long, except I didn't need to do any math and I couldn't possibly screw it up. In my mind, that's the perfect example of using a stooge. It streamlines a performance, anyone watching would see the same thing as if you didn't use a stooge, and you can do the same thing in a non-stooged way.
Now that I've gone on and on about using stooges sparingly, let's talk about an idea I had that takes it to the other extreme. What if you did a magic show where everyone there was in on it except one or two people? I'm picturing something small and intimate, like after hours in a coffee shop or in a hotel suite. The show can seat maybe a dozen people total. Every time a person or couple books a ticket, that show becomes sold out. Early in your show you can do a "traditional" magic trick using the real spectators. As the show goes on, you do effects using your stooges that become more and more impossible. I'm thinking use them to sign duplicate cards or coins, think of words from the dictionary, use them to do the cleanest version of the lottery effect you'll ever see. The sky's the limit, I would just try to keep it at least semi-plausible.
As long as your stooges don't ham it up, the people who actually buy tickets and come to this as a real spectator are going to see the best magic show in the world. I think if this were to be actually done, you would need to select your stooges carefully. You can't have an audience full of your friends in case someone recognizes them. I think actors or people from Craigslist would be the best bet, but then I don't think you'd be able to sell tickets at a high enough price to be able to pay people. You would also have to keep track of people who have seen the show and be careful to not let them see the same show twice. Maybe switch things up with your stooges, but then you run the risk of someone getting confused. Maybe limit people coming back for a second showing by having tickets be sold out if they try to buy them. There's a lot of problems but I think they could be solved, I just don't know if I could solve them in my current position. I would love to try one day though.
Let's take this a step further into the extreme: What if everyone at the show was a stooge, but everyone though they were the only one? This is starting to become more performance art than magic show, but the idea of it really gets me. I think this would be best in an casual setting, like a house party or cookout or something. Individually and well in advance you approach your guests and tell them you're going to try out your new show but you need their help in one part. If they could just do X, you'd really appreciate it. Set up the whole show with different people in different roles.
Again, the whole thing can be as impossible as you'd like to make it but I feel that the more plausible you can make it, the better. Pull off the whole show (though I guess it is more accurately a play at this point) and afterward everybody's still amazed. I would love to do this and just sit back and see how long it would take people to realize, if they ever did. I think with the right group of people they would just keep quiet about it and be amazed forever. Again, I would love to try this but I'm not sure I can ever pull it off.
Well, that's what I've got to say about stooges. For now, anyway. I could probably talk forever about it but I would probably talk myself in circles more than I already have. I might revisit this at a later date.
- Andster
Years ago I probably would have told you that stooges had no place in magic and anyone using them was lazy and should find a way to accomplish the effect without a stooge. Now I realize that it's not so black and white. There are certain scenarios where having a stooge, instant or otherwise, can strengthen the effect. There are also times when using stooges can weaken things overall.
In my opinion a poor use of a stooge is a trick that can only be accomplished by using a stooge. I feel that these tricks look too impossible for an audience and they often correctly assume that the assistant is in on it. An example of this is something I feel like every magician hits on early in their career: Too-Perfect Mind Reading. It's not too much of a stretch to think "Gee, instead of forcing a word or using a center tear or a peek wallet, why don't I just have Bob help me out and tell him to say giraffe?"
Instead, I think a stooge should be used to strengthen an effect. They should be part of the method, not the entire method. An example I've seen of this being tossed around in the past is using another magician who knows the same stacked deck as you in an ACAAN effect. A real spectator names any card, your stooge names the corresponding number in the stack, or vice versa.
You could also use that to eliminate the weak point in a one-ahead routine. The simple 3-Way Test from Mark Wilson's Complete Course in Magic is one of my favorite pieces of impromptu magic, but I don't like that the third stage needs to be a force. Yes, you can get lucky with equivoque or you can use a psychological force, but ideally you could ask people to make completely free choices. Doing that for the first two stages and limiting choices in the third, to me, makes it look fishy. Having a stooge for that third stage can clean things up for you immensely.
I used a stooge a few months ago when I needed to film a video for something. I had been performing the Invisible Deck all day at a festival and towards the end I decided to get some footage of it. Instead of filming the actual routine, I grabbed someone I knew and basically said, "Hey, you're gonna help me make a video real quick. I'm going to ask you to name a card. Say the seven of hearts." I turned the seven around in a normal deck of cards, turned the camera on, and did my ID routine. It was exactly the same as I had done all day long, except I didn't need to do any math and I couldn't possibly screw it up. In my mind, that's the perfect example of using a stooge. It streamlines a performance, anyone watching would see the same thing as if you didn't use a stooge, and you can do the same thing in a non-stooged way.
Now that I've gone on and on about using stooges sparingly, let's talk about an idea I had that takes it to the other extreme. What if you did a magic show where everyone there was in on it except one or two people? I'm picturing something small and intimate, like after hours in a coffee shop or in a hotel suite. The show can seat maybe a dozen people total. Every time a person or couple books a ticket, that show becomes sold out. Early in your show you can do a "traditional" magic trick using the real spectators. As the show goes on, you do effects using your stooges that become more and more impossible. I'm thinking use them to sign duplicate cards or coins, think of words from the dictionary, use them to do the cleanest version of the lottery effect you'll ever see. The sky's the limit, I would just try to keep it at least semi-plausible.
As long as your stooges don't ham it up, the people who actually buy tickets and come to this as a real spectator are going to see the best magic show in the world. I think if this were to be actually done, you would need to select your stooges carefully. You can't have an audience full of your friends in case someone recognizes them. I think actors or people from Craigslist would be the best bet, but then I don't think you'd be able to sell tickets at a high enough price to be able to pay people. You would also have to keep track of people who have seen the show and be careful to not let them see the same show twice. Maybe switch things up with your stooges, but then you run the risk of someone getting confused. Maybe limit people coming back for a second showing by having tickets be sold out if they try to buy them. There's a lot of problems but I think they could be solved, I just don't know if I could solve them in my current position. I would love to try one day though.
Let's take this a step further into the extreme: What if everyone at the show was a stooge, but everyone though they were the only one? This is starting to become more performance art than magic show, but the idea of it really gets me. I think this would be best in an casual setting, like a house party or cookout or something. Individually and well in advance you approach your guests and tell them you're going to try out your new show but you need their help in one part. If they could just do X, you'd really appreciate it. Set up the whole show with different people in different roles.
Again, the whole thing can be as impossible as you'd like to make it but I feel that the more plausible you can make it, the better. Pull off the whole show (though I guess it is more accurately a play at this point) and afterward everybody's still amazed. I would love to do this and just sit back and see how long it would take people to realize, if they ever did. I think with the right group of people they would just keep quiet about it and be amazed forever. Again, I would love to try this but I'm not sure I can ever pull it off.
Well, that's what I've got to say about stooges. For now, anyway. I could probably talk forever about it but I would probably talk myself in circles more than I already have. I might revisit this at a later date.
- Andster
Thursday, January 21, 2016
Do You Want to Make Someone Vanish?
Well, now you can for the low, low price of $1,300! Actually, it's $1,375 which makes perfect sense because $1,400 would be way too much for this. Full details here. Go check it out, watch the video, then come back. I'll wait.
Okay, welcome back. First things first, I don't wanna talk shit on this guy on a personal level. I'm sure he's a great guy, talented performer, all that stuff. The thing that I want to know is, what's stopping someone from just performing this on their own without buying the license? The demo video is more or less an instructional video, especially if you've read the Paul Harris idea this whole thing is based on.
It's been a while since I've read that particular Conversation From the Edge, but if memory serves this performance is exactly what PH suggests you do. It's not like there's a whole bunch added here to make it different and worth selling as your own thing. Maybe an argument could be made that the mind reading bit at the beginning is original and, in my opinion, having that helps sell the second effect to the spectator. However, I also think you could pretty much get away with just about any thought transference, mind reading, drawing duplication effect that's currently on the market. Going one step further (and trying to obfuscate as much as I can here) you could probably also take what one spectator has to do for part two of the effect and incorporate that into part one and you're golden. Feel me?
I do have to say, this is something I've really thought about doing over the years. I never have because I'm not performing in the right spaces to pull this off. Watching the video and seeing the reaction this gets (though we have to remember the "real" reaction is from one guy and not hundreds) does make me want to give this a try. Maybe one day I'll be able to. I don't know if I would do this as a closer though, because to me the whole thing ends up seeming like a gag. Apparently it works out for this guy, but I personally would rather end the show on a moment of impossibility for everyone than for one.
- Andster
Okay, welcome back. First things first, I don't wanna talk shit on this guy on a personal level. I'm sure he's a great guy, talented performer, all that stuff. The thing that I want to know is, what's stopping someone from just performing this on their own without buying the license? The demo video is more or less an instructional video, especially if you've read the Paul Harris idea this whole thing is based on.
It's been a while since I've read that particular Conversation From the Edge, but if memory serves this performance is exactly what PH suggests you do. It's not like there's a whole bunch added here to make it different and worth selling as your own thing. Maybe an argument could be made that the mind reading bit at the beginning is original and, in my opinion, having that helps sell the second effect to the spectator. However, I also think you could pretty much get away with just about any thought transference, mind reading, drawing duplication effect that's currently on the market. Going one step further (and trying to obfuscate as much as I can here) you could probably also take what one spectator has to do for part two of the effect and incorporate that into part one and you're golden. Feel me?
I do have to say, this is something I've really thought about doing over the years. I never have because I'm not performing in the right spaces to pull this off. Watching the video and seeing the reaction this gets (though we have to remember the "real" reaction is from one guy and not hundreds) does make me want to give this a try. Maybe one day I'll be able to. I don't know if I would do this as a closer though, because to me the whole thing ends up seeming like a gag. Apparently it works out for this guy, but I personally would rather end the show on a moment of impossibility for everyone than for one.
- Andster
Friday, January 15, 2016
An Amazing Derren Brown Show
I've been a fan of Derren Brown for a while, though I haven't had the chance to see a lot of his full specials. I really wish there was a bigger audience for him in the US. I remember the SyFy channel showed one of his series several years ago, but I think that's been about it.
I found his most recent special, Pushed to the Edge, on YouTube and ended up watching the whole hour plus thing on my phone last night. This is amazing and I don't want to give too much away, but I strongly recommend you check it out. It is long, but it's well worth it. Take some time and give it a watch.
- Andster
I found his most recent special, Pushed to the Edge, on YouTube and ended up watching the whole hour plus thing on my phone last night. This is amazing and I don't want to give too much away, but I strongly recommend you check it out. It is long, but it's well worth it. Take some time and give it a watch.
- Andster
Tuesday, January 12, 2016
My Take on the Liar's Plot
A few days ago, Andy from The Jerx (no relation) posted about lie detector plots and followed up with a very interesting lie detector presentation. I personally haven't ever performed a "which coin is the hand in" trick, although I do think it does sound pretty dull. In my limited understanding of the methods at play, it's just a logic puzzle. Not entertaining. I think the extra bits that Andy adds in the second part definitely help mask that, though. I would love to try that out but for a variety of reasons I don't think I'll get to.
However, he has inspired me to finally share something I've been meaning to for a long time now. This is a lie-detector presentation I've used for lay audiences for a while now and it always gets great reactions. Try it out and see what you think.
However, he has inspired me to finally share something I've been meaning to for a long time now. This is a lie-detector presentation I've used for lay audiences for a while now and it always gets great reactions. Try it out and see what you think.
This is a three-part lie detector routine using a deck of cards. Each level builds to the next, seemingly becoming harder as it goes.
Method
This is dead easy and you're going to hate it, I promise you. Use a stack or a force. I prefer Si Stebbins, but do what's comfortable to you. The force option is more or less if you get cornered and want to do an impromptu version. The stack is a much cleaner method.
Presentation
You explain to your helper that you're going to try to figure out their tell and use that to figure out when they lie. Tell them for the first part that they need to answer "no" to every question you ask. In order to more accurately find the tell, you need to get a baseline to see what they look like when they lie and when they tell the truth. For this, you ask them questions that you already know the answer to and have them answer "no." I ask questions with obvious answers like "Are we currently on the planet Mars?" or "Are you currently barefoot?"
After three or four of each question, you say you think you have their tell and have them select a card, showing it around and holding onto it. You ask them questions like "Is it a red card?" "Is it a black card?" and narrow it down by figuring out the lie on each step. I usually start with the color, then the suit, then face/number, then odd/even, then naming the selection.
For the next step, you say you won't have them say a word and instead you'll pick up on subtle muscle cues. Have them take a new card, show it around as before, and extend a hand out, palm up. Place your fingertips on theirs and slowly recite the suits and the values, naming the selection at the end.
For the final step, you say you won't have them say anything and you won't touch them. Have them select a card but this time show it to no one and return it to the deck. They give it a quick shuffle as your back is turned. You face them, look deep into their eyes, and recite the suits and values again. Look through the deck, remove their card, and place it in their hands. They name their card, and it's the one in their hands.
Notes
First of all, I know that presentation is very bare-bones and it kinda looks shitty and hard to follow as I read it over again. Obviously you'll need to flesh it out more as you perform it. The main thing to take away is that in the first stage, they say no to everything you ask. The second stage is nonverbal, pseudo-muscle reading. The third stage is no speaking and no contact. I think this helps with one of the things Andy takes issue with: The spectator remembering if they should lie or tell the truth. All they need to do is say one word for one section of the whole thing, and they're usually pretty good at remembering that.
In the first two stages, I have the person show their card to anyone else present and also hold onto it while I question them. Not only does this keep the other spectators involved in the process, it prevents that small chance of getting a smart ass who will lie about what their card is. In the third stage, I like to keep their selection secret from everyone to build suspense. What I will usually do is have them pinch the card with their thumb face down, then I'll raise their hand so the back of the card is in front of their face. They can't see it but the rest of the audience can. When they name their card, the reaction of the other audience members is enough to cue them to look at it.
I will vary how easily I pick up on their lies. Sometimes I'll repeat the choices a few times before settling on the lie, other times I'll pick it up immediately. I don't know if "realism" is the best word for this, but I do think it helps get better reactions.
If using a stack, you can have the spectator shuffle the deck in the third stage after you get your peek and know their card. This will obviously destroy the stack and make the deck examinable. If you want to keep the stack intact for future performance, I just take their card back and casually cut the deck few times as I go through the theatrics for the third stage. I will say that in all the times I've performed this, I've never had someone ask to look at the deck after, but your mileage may vary.
I know that most people will probably dismiss this as a shitty trick, which it kinda is at least as far as the method goes. It still gets great reactions every time I perform it though, which I guess just goes to show that, to an extent, the method doesn't matter to laymen. I would love it if someone would actually try this and let me know how it goes for them.
Good luck.
- Andster
Monday, January 11, 2016
It's a Brand New Year!
About two weeks into 2016, I figure it's time for the first post of the year. I wish I could say I've been busy doing lots of exciting things, but really I've just been sitting around playing Little Big Planet 3 on my new PS4.
I've got a lot of stuff I want to write about this year. The key is going to be actually sitting down and getting it out there. I'd like to try to get myself on some type of regular posting schedule so that anyone who is interested in reading can check in and see some new content. I'm not going to commit myself to a posting schedule that I can't keep up, so for now I'm just going to play it by ear. But I would go out on a limb and say that for now, once a week would be a safe guess for new content.
I haven't been performing as much as I would like and I've got a couple irons in the fire to try to change that in the upcoming year. I don't want to say anything about it until things come to fruition, but I'm excited to make announcements in the future.
Stay tuned in the upcoming weeks and months for (hopefully) lots of stuff. I've got tricks, handlings, and ideas to share. I've got thoughts on theories and plots and things of that nature. Probably going to be able to throw in some stories from the field too. All in all, it should be a good year.
I'll post next in August.
- Andster
I've got a lot of stuff I want to write about this year. The key is going to be actually sitting down and getting it out there. I'd like to try to get myself on some type of regular posting schedule so that anyone who is interested in reading can check in and see some new content. I'm not going to commit myself to a posting schedule that I can't keep up, so for now I'm just going to play it by ear. But I would go out on a limb and say that for now, once a week would be a safe guess for new content.
I haven't been performing as much as I would like and I've got a couple irons in the fire to try to change that in the upcoming year. I don't want to say anything about it until things come to fruition, but I'm excited to make announcements in the future.
Stay tuned in the upcoming weeks and months for (hopefully) lots of stuff. I've got tricks, handlings, and ideas to share. I've got thoughts on theories and plots and things of that nature. Probably going to be able to throw in some stories from the field too. All in all, it should be a good year.
I'll post next in August.
- Andster
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