So, last night at a bar I started doing magic for friends of friends. As we all do when we have too much to drink, but something interesting happened in the set.
I started doing more mind reading and risky magic. If you guys haven’t seen my lecture on TMC, you should check it out. I always end up doing this mind reading effect that is super easy but packs strong. It’s basically a simple riffle force of a card and reveal it in a special way. So after I did that, the natural thing the spectators wanted was me to do it again. So I did. I instant stooged one of his friends and had him read the person’s mind. They wanted more.
I was in a risky mood, since failure now would not be a nice way to end. I had the person think of a card and fanned the cards in front of his friends. I literally made them guess what card he was holding. Although now I was thinking that a 1 in 52 chance was basically 100% for some reason, the trick failed. I looked puzzled and started to think what the hell I can do as an out but still keep it in the mind reading context. I palmed out the card and asked one of their friends to see if his card was in the deck. Acting confused why they couldn’t guess the card. I kept asking what the card was (10 of clubs) and kept saying that I didn’t see it in the deck as the 2 were pulling out the card. The friends agreed. Having the named card palmed out, I just decided to put it into my wallet since I had a Card to Wallet in my back pocket. So the problem was to reveal it not in the context of magic. For example your card transported into my wallet.
So I kept acting confused and then in a moment of clarity, I told them that I think it’s not in the deck because I used it for a trick yesterday. Then realizing it, I tell them I left it in my wallet! Being excited (acting) I slowly pulled the wallet out and took the card out of the zippered compartment.
They freaked.
When we use “outs” or trying to come up with a good ending from something that went wrong, we always go to tried and true methods. This is totally fine, but sometimes they can be out of context. If I just pulled the card out of the wallet without the acting bit, it would seem as a magic trick. Where the card transported to the wallet. But in this case, they didn’t even think I used sleight of hand because in the context it seemed to make sense that I left a card in the wallet before. The acting sells the fact that it was a coincidence. It was also a great bit that the friends confirmed with my story of not seeing the 10 of clubs in the deck before.
My current obsession is the cover pass. I am torn about doing a “diary” type of video updates on my attempts to clean up and make the actions of the cover pass better. Maybe a count of hands from the readers will give me a better understanding of who actually wants this.
Note, while I will talk about techniques of the pass, I will not teach the pass in full. I feel that giving you guys my train of thought as to how I go about learning a sleight would be beneficial.
So this will be my updates on all the wonderful Facebook chat messages I get from magicians. The magicians are in red, and I’m normal. PUN.
Chat 1: how will i know if the jason brumbalow that emailed me was the true vp of E?
how the hell would I know im doubting because he said that hes going to produce a video tutorial about my *CENSORED* change
stop for a second
why do you think I would know anything about this
or can help you?
Chat 2: (Mind you, he is 14 years old) I am creating my own DVD project, just don’t know exactly, how to sell it
uhmmm what?
well… if its good you can just contact magic websites
and see if they buy it. that’s basically it I am making sure it is very good, quality, DVD, teaching I compare it to really good videos
but is the content good? is it original? is it worthy of publishing? honestly it’s a flourishing project but what do I do, like send the menus to them or what?
uhh the same but different content
Chat 3: sup Tony! thanx for the add
np by the way im lazy when it comes to research..who invented the doble lift?
ive always wondered
old as the hills
There isn’t a direct person they can attach the credit to. someday ill invent an awesome move like that !! im gonna name it with my name so im not forgotten like the doble lift guy
Is it true? Maybe. I’m going to start posting again. Let’s make a goal here. 2 posts a week. Starting next week.
1 post will be serious and the other will be fun. Something about murdering ducks or something. Because everyone knows ducks are expendable. Right guys?
So I have been keeping this one for myself for a while and only been telling a few friends. Its a “kicker” effect to end ANY card trick. There’s so many out there but never one that can fit into any card trick.
Here it is under this line. Highlight it to see it.
Just want to remind you to read the actual handling of the DPS in Expert at the card table. I show you what adjustments I have made to make the DPS fit what I want, but I am not going through the sleight’s nuts and bolts. Thanks to Ricky Smith and Gary Au for helping me through this. I am by no means a master of the move but the reason I want to teach this move is that I want more magicians to read the classics. The DPS has many applications.
Oh by the way. Don’t just watch the video to know how its done. Learn it. Use it. Otherwise there is no point.
Password: What does Erdnase call the section in his book about magic effects.
Here are two tricks I have been working on using the DPS as the main sleight. A variation of the Hofzinser’s Ace Problem and Bureau d’Echange by Ernest Erick. Enjoy. Next week I will go further in detail on how the move is done.
Password : Ricky Jay and his __ assistants. (number)
Sorry for the delay everyone. I have been busy to say the least. I will keep my word of updating from now on but obviously can’t do it as much as I started out on. I will promise that every Sunday there will be an update.
I will also be using this place as my personal blog too. Photography, videos, whatever. But a magic update every Sunday.
I’ll try to line something up sweet this Sunday. Thanks for reading.
I can now say why I have not been posting lately. I have been filming and editing all the videos for the new magic website, VanshingInc. It is a new website created by Joshua Jay and Andi Gladwin.
Now I’m not a big fan of any of these magic websites but I can honestly say this one is different. Why? Well for starters they don’t carry shit just so they can sell it. They handpick the books and DVDs that they truly think is good for magic as an Art. You won’t see any vanishing milk from newspaper to light bulb in this website. Also, you actually see many heavy hitters in magic review the items on the website personally. There is no “I’m elite” status here with anyone working on the site. It’s just our honest opinion on things that we think magic should be and what you need to read to become better.
Even better, I have put up my color change that has been floating around the internet for a long time. If you haven’t seen my youtube video of it from a year ago, here it is below. I have made a video through VanishingInc that not only teaches the change but also teaches 3 other tricks with it. Get it here.
Yes yes, this is a plug for the website but I am not lying when I say this is a website has an anti-ellusionist feel to it. I for one am glad that someone finally broke the fucking mold.
Check it out and expect to see more posts. (hopefully).
Sorry for not updating… been really busy. But I really want to talk about is how one gets in and out of a control. I will be discussing how I get in and out of the cascade control. What I find wrong with the way many people do theirs. Be on soon… Hopefully.
Posted: February 13th, 2009
Comments: No Comments.
Back from Peru and oh what a crazy city it is. The convention was a heavy hitter, full of magicians. Pitt Hartling, Juan Tamariz, Henry Evans, Jeff McBride… you name it, they were there. Well… don’t say Dai Vernon, he wasn’t there.
What I noticed greatly was the style of magic in Latin America. They like card tricks per-say but it is much different than the American style. Most people do card magic being seated with a close up mat. Lots of counting or math tricks for the average magician. So many were infatuated with me because I showed them something different. The cascade and cherry control were the hit of the convention. I probably had to perform it to literally everyone there and did it over 500+ times. It was quite surprising how many I fooled with the move. Probably 90% of the magicians there were using just the double undercut to control the card. Something interesting to ponder about.
Even watching the close-up competition was different. Many had full on characters to act and there were only a handful that did more technical sleight of hand. I was extremely happy that my friend Alex Linian won 1st place in the close-up card magic competition. As you know, he is the creator of the trick “Puncture”. After winning the award, he told me that the only other award he won was 4th place at Tannens magic camp. Quite a step up to be the best in Latin America.
The sessions at night were great. Although most of the time I was teaching someone the cascade or cherry control, I did meet a few magicians that has great hands. Pitt Hartling was kind enough to hang out and the 2 tricks that he did fooled me. It’s a good feeling to be fooled. Lennart Green even called me out to perform a few tricks for him.
I did film quite a few stuff, but for now I can not show any of it. In a month you will be able to see the footage we shot. We got Pitt Hartling, Alex Linian doing a variation of the one handed top palm that is incredible and also Ernesto’s controls and forces. I can’t say what they are for but the time will come and everything will be clear.
So what’s the video below then? Well its the short montage of what Peru is like through my eyes. I didn’t get a lot of footage but you can get a taste of what the city was like. Hope you enjoy. I know the blog hasn’t been really “fun” in the last few weeks, I will get some good shit on here soon.
I am heading out to Lima, Peru with my buddy Joshua Jay for what I hear is the biggest magic convention in Latin America. It’s called FLASOMA. So my blog is going to be kind of on the low upkeep for a week or so. Don’t worry though, I am going to be shooting a shit-load while I am there. By a shit-load I mean if I could put loads of shit in a jar and somehow that is equivalent of having cool magic, then I would have a shit-load of jars. Literally.
Stay tuned, I will try to get a video of something up this weekend before I head out Tuesday, but it will be worth the wait.
But if you can’t wait, I suggest you learn the Snap Change from this kid. He is really good at it. I am not making fun of it, I want people to learn magic in the best way possible. Many of you will think after watching this that I am very sarcastic, but I am truely not. Really. I’m not. This kid is great. Really.
Sorry for the lack of updates. Just finished shooting a magic DVD of a great mentalist trick by Patrick Redford. So here is a quick video of what I am working on. The damn cascade control was something I really hated and for some reason I spent 3 months on this damn thing and its getting somewhere respectable. Now I am loving it. Go figure. After that is a trick that I do as a opener, I will re-shoot it and give my whole patter that I use which I feel is important but I just want to show you how i end the trick…that’s the other thing I am working on.
Oh, and sorry for my friend filming, he makes loud mouth noises for no fucking reason. Also forgive me, had a long night of drinking before hand so I have that “sexy” voice going on.
password is, What is the name of the trick that Bill Malone is known for. “___ the bellhop” all lower case letters.
remember to click on the link below to view in HD.
One thing that I notice about the difference between a mentalist and a magician is when it comes to risk. I always thought it was funny when magicians throw away effects that aren’t 100%. To a mentalist, not having 100% success makes them more credible. Ironic I would say. Now obviously you wouldn’t do risk for risk’s sake. The result of taking a bigger risk should make the impact if the trick greater.
I want you to try this effect out. It is a simple simple key card effect, but instead, you put risk into it. I will explain the effect, and you should be able to come up with a method fairly easy. Remember, it only uses a key card. nothing extra.
Effect: Spectator shuffles the deck till he feels it’s mixed. He sticks his index finger into the deck anywhere and pulls out a card and remembers it. Then he puts the selection on top and cuts the deck to lose the selection. The magician tells the person to shuffle and mix until he feels there is no way you can find the card. After the shuffles he puts it onto the table. The magician, who hasn’t even touched the cards yet, tells the spectator he will try to divine the color of the selection. He stares at the spectator and then says a color. The spectator confirms that his card is red for example.
The magician says ” I have two cards in my head that I think is yours.” He searches through the deck and pulls out two cards. “I have two cards, but one of them is yours.” He shuffles the two cards around then says “which one is it.” The spectator points to one, and the one he points to is the selected card.
Now, this sounds amazing right? Well it is, when everything hits. It doesn’t mean it is horrible if it doesn’t hit. It is only bad if you the magician deems it bad. So here is the “risk factors” to enhance this simple trick.
This is in thanks to Gary Au’s brilliant thinking. Many magicians when doing a key card effect always goes for the deck straight away and searches… This is a dead give away. Instead, guess the color of the card. Only a 50% risk. Infact, I don’t even care if I miss it. If I guess it correctly I say, “I knew it. I have a card in my mind…” pick up the deck and find it. If I guessed wrong I say “Really… I had a Red and Black card in my mind, so I guess it isn’t that color…” and still pick up the deck. The most important part is that you are giving a reason go to the deck. You have a card FIRST then find the card SECOND.
Let them shuffle till they go blind. First of all, they won’t shuffle that much. The mere fact that you are so free with it makes them less resistant. The impact of being so free during shuffling is well worth the risk. People tend to not shuffle that well to separate the key card too far. Besides, you eliminate one color before you go to the deck. For example, the selection is red. If there is some black cards shuffled in between the key card and the selection, you will know which card it is.
Lets assume the card is Red, but you see 2 red cards next to the key card. Easy, take both out and have them choose it. 50% again, but the effect is just as good if he didn’t guess it right. You said you thought it was two card, and you did pull out two cards. That is amazing enough. Just go on your gut feeling which hand of yours he would point to.
Try it out. By putting risk into your card effects you can make something pretty mundane into something amazing.
For more on this kind of magic, read “Absolute Magic” by Derren Brown. Da best in the biz.
Many people during the birth of the blog bitched and complained about me making examples of people doing horrible magic. They say that it is unfair for me to “laugh” at them behind their backs. It is true that I laugh at them for performing magic without proper practice or just plain common sense. It’s like watching this and blaming us, the viewers, for being “insensitive”. the person is just fucking stupid. While I wouldn’t say the person performing bad magic tricks is “stupid” per say, I think they really feel that anything they do because its sleight of hand will never get noticed by the laymen. How wrong they are.
Case in example. The masked magician. You would think he is some kind of bad-ass magician that has gone “rogue” to destroy the very foundation of magic. Watch how amazing he is and he even teaches it on his DVD! Roll Film.
LINK DEAD
So here is my question after watching this horrific clip. To all the critics, is it wrong to show this clip? Is it wrong to make a example out of this and show magicians never to do this? Granted he has amazing outs for pulling out the wrong gimmicked deck and fucking up the trick. Although I have NEVER seen anyone fuck up on the indicator card out AFTER they look through the deck to know where the selection is.
Maybe you say that the difference is that someone is just posting it on Youtube and that it didn’t get as much exposure as on TV. I would argue that TV gives you less exposure as it is only locally on a global scale. Youtube is anywhere you have an internet connection.
All I’m saying is that bad magic is BAD MAGIC. I am not personally hateful of the performer. Just like you would call the person trying to jump through a fucking basketball hoop an idiot, if you knew him, I’m sure at that moment you would be thinking about his health more than anything.
Constructive criticism is always hard to take if you are insecure of your ability, but we can not further our Art if we sit around and just say nice things to each other. I try to be as constructive as I can but there are people out there that want to be entertained too.
I guess the only constructive thing I can say about this video is that he has some fucking balls to stick through that trick. Oh, and he is an amazing actor when it comes to dramas. My inner child cries every time I see him act.
This blog used to be about this book, the mecca of hard moves. My inner child cries when I think of the book. It’s coming back ladies and gentlemen. I will again start my documentation of learning every damn thing in this book and helping anyone who has the book along the way. I posted many of them on my old Youtube page but I will re-shoot them and make them a little more official. Coming soon is probably the two moves that people don’t think is even possible, the Broadside steal and the Longitudinal Swivel Steal. Enjoy the old videos and look forward to the new ones.
What is a magician fooler anyways? We all know its done with sleight of hand. So what is defined as a magician fooler? Is it just an unknown principle that your friend performs for you that he read in a 1938 card trick book found in the basement? How about performing some variation or original sleight of hand that you never seen?
Darwin Ortiz said it best, if you fool a magician for 10% of the trick, you got them. From that logic, is it true then that magicians aren’t really fooled? Just puzzled? Obviously I have no idea how you separated the colors of the cards so fast, but there must be a method or principle that I don’t know about.
We all know that magicians will never say to some magician after a card trick, “What you did there is out of the realm of human physics. You sir, are performing true magic.” Unless he was really sarcastic.
So then really, a magician fooler is showcasing something that is beyond their knowledge of the art. They know that it is something they haven’t read or seen yet.
Here is the question. Is a magician fooler the same with a laymen fooler? Where does that line between magician knowledge and laymen knowledge start? What I mean is that do we really fool laymen? They get bigger reactions than magicians because they know less about the art, but the mere fact that they know phrases like “The hand is quicker than the eye” makes them acknowledge that it is something they haven’t read up on in a sense.
I’m probably not making any sense, but I guess the point I am making is “Does card magic, in general, have the inherent property of being seen as a puzzle or trick?” Can we ever get out of the that mold of being just sleight of hand.
Maybe the more important question is “Is card magic being labeled as sleight of hand a bad thing?” I don’t think so.
I find that one of the most crucial things that magicians take for granted is the process of losing the card back into the deck. Take the standard selection of the card and putting the card back into the middle and doing a simple pass to control it. Now between the card coming back into the deck and the control is a very short time. Does the audience really believe the card is really back in the middle? Does the fact that the card is in the middle enough to convince them that it is out of the magician’s control?
Maybe the bigger question would be does it increase the impact of the magic? Depends I guess. If we use the context of a simple selection/revelation type of card trick then I would say it certainly does. Examine the way you take the selection back into the deck. How much do you convince them that it is lost? Does a simple double undercut really do the trick?
I would say that handing the deck out for shuffling would be one of the strongest. But maybe your palming isn’t up to par. I find that a simple confirmation of the losing of the card a huge convincer. Let’s say while you are doing the cascade control you say, “Your card is somewhere in the middle that even you nor I would know, yes?”. Now I know many would say that the spectator would always say “yes” in a sense, but the mere fact of him/her saying it themselves is a big thing later on when they reconstruct the effect.
Remember that the magic trick is the “show”, but the most important part is how you color the effect afterwards. Take the David Blaine levatitation for example. He really only floats up 2-3 inches, but when he asks the person how high he went, his hands extended 2-3 feet. The spectator will remember it that way, and tell his friends that down the road.
It’s these little things that make an effect stronger. So next time try to convince the spectator more then you usually would about losing the card and see if the result is better.
Posted: December 31st, 2008
Comments: 11 Comments.
