Micro-Sites

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Here's are a couple niche magic sites which you may enjoy.

The first is called Magic Transcribed, and it's a twitter account where the person behind the account transcribes moments of "magic."

You may think it's cruel to document every stutter, stammer, and moronic utterance by people who were potentially drawn to this hobby because they're not great at talking in the first place... and yeah, you're probably right. I think that's the point.

Another site is You're Thinking of My Prediction which documents these cases (as per the Tumblr description):

Magicians often seem to read a spectator's mind before showing that they predicted the outcome from the very beginning.

Given they predicted what was going to be thought of from the start, clearly the "mind-reading" process was fake and unnecessary; the magician proved that he already knew the information.

Here's a compilation of magicians making (or getting close to) this mistake.

This is one of those things that magicians/mentalists don't really think about. Then someone points it out to them and they think, "Oh, right. That doesn't make much sense.... aw fuck it, who gives a shit." Which is kind of the prevailing way of handling any issues that arise in magic.

I like narrowly focused micro-sites like these and I encourage you all to start one.

If you need some ideas, here are ones I'd like to see:

I Have Two of These - One of my favorite things is in the Magic Cafe's for sale section, where someone buys something and they don't want it so they decide to sell it. The problem is, selling a magic trick suggests it's not very good, so people come up with these fun stories to justify why they actually have two of these products, and they're just selling the extra one they have. Sometimes it's like, "I bought one to have as a backup, but it's so well made I won't need it!" Oh really? You just bought a backup without judging the quality of the first one? Ok. Sometimes they lost one, bought a second, then found the original. One guy bought a lot, sight unseen, at a magic auction and that lot just happened to have some new trick that he already has so... yeah... do you want the extra one? You can collect these stories and put them in a Tumblr.

I Don't Know Why You Say Goodbye, I Say Hello - This used to happen a lot on the Magic Cafe, sadly I think many of the threads where it happened were subsequently edited or deleted altogether. I remember it happening with Richard Osterlind, Devin Knight and others. There would be some argument about something, they would be on the wrong side of it, and then they would write some final mawkish post about how they won't be coming back to the Cafe anymore. "This was supposed to be a place for magicians to help magicians. But apparently it's now a place to berate those who offer their help. I won't be back." Then, three months later, they have a product to sell so they slink back onto the site. I'd like a site devoted to their "last post" and their return post.

Abracabadboys - I'd like a blog that collects examples of those badass boys of magic. Magicians don't have magical powers, but they like to pretend they do. In fact, most magicians don't have any power—they're genuine frail little pussies—that's why I like it so much when they pretend, "No, actually, I'm a bad ass tough guy!" The greatest example of this ever—and quite possibly the greatest story ever told (sorry Bible)— is this post by Jaxon at the Magic Cafe.

Here I am. Performing for a private party of about 50 people. There is one guy there who's being a jerk to everyone. 

Of course, during my show the guy tries to heckle me. He comes up with an attitude like "I dare you to use me" when I ask for a volunteer". Normally I handle hecklers by kind of winning them over. To make them laugh. 

Anyway, during my performance he grabs one of the decks of cards I had on the table. Throws it across the room and it hits an old white haired lady right in the face. Then he's actually laughing about it. he's sitting on a chair a few feet from me. 

When I saw what he did. The deck hitting the lady in the face and him laughing. I just exploded. I punched him right in the jaw and knocked him out. 

Being the "entertainers" mode. I just looked at him on the floor. looked at the audience and said, "Anyway. on with the show" and went into my next trick with him laying on the ground. 

How should I feel about this? I hate to get in a fight. Especially when I'm performing because that's very unprofessional. I regret it happened but I have to admit. After seeing that poor lady being hit in the face by a full, boxed deck and the guy laughing. I can't help but be glad I did it. When it happened it actually got an applaud too. 

Just wanted to share this unfortunate experience and see what you all think. 

Fire Non-Starter - I'd like to see a website of people whose fire wallets don't ignite immediately. This may be my favorite thing in the world. It's certainly something I cherish more than my family and friends or anything like that. Usually people have some "funny" line right before they open the wallet so it really doubles the sense of failure when it doesn't light. "Hey, this money is really burning a hole in my pocket!" they say. Then they open the wallet. *flick* *flick* *flick* The 100% distinctive sound of one of those lighter wheels turning. Literally nothing magical about the moment at all. That's my favorite. *flick* *flick*