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.

-Tony

Hey everyone.

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).

Once again to everyone, sorry for the lack of updates.  For the last 2 weeks I had to take on a 2nd job.  It is very demanding.  Take a look.

Now on to a real topic that always bothered me.  Sleight of hand vs Gimmicks.  Magic has an inherent problem when it comes to effect/method.  If the trick is done well the method should not be obvious to the laymen.  So it begs to ask the question, does that mean that you can do ANYTHING as long as the effect stays the same?

Case and point.  You can’t palm cards worth shit because you don’t practice.  Is it okay for you to put double stick tape onto your palm and perform the effect as long as the effect looks the same?

Where is the line between putting effort into the art and short cuts.  Now I guess calling Gimmicks a “short cut” is very negative but sometimes I really do feel that way.

A long time ago I was arguing with a magician about this subject.  He told me that since the audience never knows the method, you can use as much gimmicks as you want because it will make it easier on you as a performer.  Now that bothered me.  I said back to him that even though the laymen never knows your method, it is still upon you to put some fucking effort into your craft and hone the skills.

He told me that doing that is masturbatory and just impressing yourself as a move monkey.

That hit me pretty hard.  What he said was true.  If they never know the method and the EFFECT is the same weither you do only sleight of hand or use only gimmicks, then does it make a difference what you do in your method?

I thought about it for a while and then it hit me a week later.  This sounds really fucked up, but some how child labor came into mind.  Think about buying a pair of jeans.  Lets say that you get the same product if you had Americans working in a shop making minimum wage and also the same thing by giving it to some kid in India making only 1 dollar a day.  Now, the END product is the same but the METHOD is different.  The only difference here is that the clothing company can go public and tell everyone that they are legit like American Apparel.  In magic, we can’t.  The secret can’t be given away.  So to me it’s more of a ethics question.  Which is quite ironic since in magic we are lying through our teeth.

What really bothers me is the way that coin magic is becoming today.  It seems when I started out, using an extra coin was all you needed in a coins across.  Now it seems you can only do coin magic if you have a Triple Threat as a starting point.  When did we start getting so lazy?

I’m sure there will be many people that will argue that gimmicks only come into the picture when we can’t go any further with sleight of hand.  The reason we use shells is because it gives a better illusion that no sleight of hand could.  I will agree with that.  Granted I think the line is 80% sleight of hand 20% gimmicks.

I guess the picture I’m trying to paint here is put effort into your magic.  It pisses me off when people say you should concentrate more on the presentation than the method.  I would think you should consider both equally.  Usually people who tell me this bullshit are shitty magicians to begin with.  I have talked to someone who says the above and then tried to argue that the slip force, which he does horribly, is better than the classic force… I would say that his opinion isn’t so high on my list.  Maybe it was because he did MagicK, not magic…

So my final thoughts.  Work on your craft.  Don’t be a pussy and use gimmicks all the time.

Next posting will be a video of me teaching you guys the opener that I use all the time.  Thanks for keeping this stupid blog alive.

-Tony

Alright, I have been super busy in my real life lately that I have been not updating as much.  So here is a small topic I want to talk about.  I am always fascinated by the construction of card sleights.  If you have read The Paper Engine this topic will sound very familiar.  I think many magicians feel that just because a move is based on sleight of hand, it means it is impervious to detection.  If you don’t believe me, then watch all the horrible Youtube videos of people doing magic.  On the camera, it is glaring of faults during the sleight, but yet magicians still put it online for everyone to see.  Why?  They think the notion that the move is constructed to be hidden that it MEANS its perfect by default.

I hate when magicians say “Well, its good enough.  They are laymen, they don’t know what I am doing.”  That excuse makes by default, for me at least, that the construction of the move is horrible to begin with.  Just the mere fact that you need to say that to other magicians is either you don’t practice enough or its just a bad move to begin with.  Now I know that from time to time I show magicians sleight of hand that is pretty out of shape.  Many magicians ask me to do Raise Rise but I don’t perform it much anymore and most of the time I chop through it.  The main difference is that I would never show that to a laymen.

Now many will say, “Well… magicians know what you are doing, you can’t fool them.”  This is true.  But the difference is that when you perform a great control example, they will either be amazed that you can perform it so well or ask you to do it again.  Just because they know you controlled the card to the top doesn’t mean they aren’t impressed by the way you performed it.  But who cares about magicians.  You are trying to fool the general public.

So before I blah too much longer, I wanted you to comment about what you feel about it.  The biggest barrier for a magician is to realize that not everything he does is as “good” as he thinks.  The next post will be about how to make that sleight of hand better.  The truth is that it ISN’T the performance of the move that is important… It is, but what is even more important is how you get into the move and get out of the move.  More on this later.  Again, I appoligise for the lack of posts.

—UPDATE—-

Alright, fuck it.  I had some time.  here is the video.  Hope someone gets something out of my blabbing.

Password is Dai “______”  all lower caps.  If you don’t know this…. you shouldn’t be in magic.

Before and After from Tony Chang on Vimeo.

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.

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.

Week in Peru from Tony Chang on Vimeo.

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.

Youtube.

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.

Cascade Control and a Trick from Tony Chang on Vimeo.

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.