Dustings #36

If you’re one of the smart ones who sets an alarm for 3am Eastern Time to get the new posts right when they’re fresh out of the oven, you may still have time to jump on this kickstarter that’s about to end.

It’s called the ForeverPen and it’s this tiny little pen that writes without ink.

Chris G. wrote in to suggest the idea of making a thumbwriter with the material the pen is made out of. But even before the email was over, he kind of came to the conclusion that it probably wasn’t necessary. I agree. If the writing looked more like pen ink than pencil, it might make some sense. But to me it sort of looks like pencil.

So you’re probably better off just sticking with led/graphite or whatever and replacing it when you need to. For most of us, that’s not very often. Very few people are taking their notes for law school with a nailwriter/thumbwriter, so the longevity of the writing medium isn’t a huge priority.

That being said, I still think the ForeverPen may have some magic uses. For one it gives you an unobtrusive way to have a pen always on you. And as I was writing about in the last post, the more things you can have on you, the greater your options are when you’re creating your repertoire. So you can use it in an overt way and just use it when you need something to write with in an off-the-cuff routine. It could serve as a minor point of interest for people. They’ll say, “Look at that guy’s little pen!” (As opposed to the way you usually hear that sentence—with an “is” before the exclamation point.)

And you could use it covertly as pocket-writing tool as well (or “in the lap” writing, which is how I normally do any routines that were originally designed to be done in the pocket).

So just a heads up for anyone who might have a use for this. You’ve got 10 more hours from the time this post goes up to get in on the kickstarter. But, of course, I’m sure it will be available in some form after that ends as well.

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Guys, you’ll be proud of me, I used some “magical thinking” in my real life.

I went with my friend to the auto body shop because he had a small dime-sized dent in the back right panel of his car.

The guy at the shop told my friend that in order to remove the dent they’d need to drill a small hole in the door jamb on the passenger side so they could get their tool back behind the panel and push out the dent from the inside. That seems needlessly destructive, but apparently this is how paintless dent removal works. They need to get behind the dent.

The guy at the shop said they’d put a little plug thing in the hole and since it’s in a part of the car that you can’t see unless the door is open, it’s not really a big deal. The plug he was talking about looks like this:

My friend said, “Well, it’s a lease. Is it going to be an issue if there’s a hole in the door jamb when it comes time to turn the car in?”

The shop guy said he didn’t really know. So we just sat there for a while deciding what to do. My friend didn’t want to drive around with this dent for another year in his nice car. But he didn’t know what the repercussions would be if they drilled the hole.

Suddenly I was hit with a bit of inspiration. When you’re a magician and you want to ditch something hidden in your right hand in your pocket casually, what do you do?

The answer is you put both hands in your pocket. This looks like a casual, relaxed gesture more-so than just sticking your right hand in your pocket.

So I said, “Drill a hole in the driver’s side door jamb too.”

My theory being that if there are two identical holes in both door jambs then it will seem like they’re somehow supposed to be there—it will seem less conspicuous than a hole on one side. And I feel like it gives my friend more deniability should the holes be spotted. “Those holes aren’t supposed to be there? That’s news to me. I never even noticed them. Are you sure? Why would I drill holes in my door jamb? Could this have happened at the factory or the dealership?”

Of course the other argument could be made that I’ve now doubled the likelihood of these holes being noticed when the car is returned at the end of the lease.

We’ll see, because they did go ahead and drill the second hole. I’ll update you in a year when the lease is over if anything happens.

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This image comes from a booklet I’ve posted about previously on the site.

While it’s a great, simple way to transmit numbers between partners, it becomes a total mindfuck when used to transmit words via morse code. I’ve written about how useful I find morse code in a previous post. In this case you would do a short clamp of the jaw for a dot and hold it for a dash. You can put your fingers on your temples and feel how this feels. It’s very easy to distinguish the two.

I’ve used this method with some regularity in the past. When you just transmit numbers, I find people seem to come up with a solution. Usually not the correct one, but they think the person might be moving their head in a certain way to indicate a number. With words, they have no clue. Although this comes from an old kid’s magic pamphlet, it’s actually a strong effect that way. And it’s sort of fun to practice with someone.

I’ve had a couple magician friends who were particularly good at transmitting and receiving morse code. We would often do tricks where we transmitted information via foot taps under the table. There were a few times where we would just do it improvisationally. As in, we knew the other person was attempting to send us something, but we never spoke what the actual method was going to be so we’d just have to look for whatever thing the other person might be doing to send the letters, while they cycled through the word over and over. Like it might be how they were tapping a pencil against their chin or pacing the floor.

One time I was trying to pick up on what my friend was sending me for a long time, but I wasn’t getting anything, and we had to admit that our psychic connection failed. When I got him alone I asked him how he was trying to send me the letters. He said, “I was doing it with my breathing.” He was doing short and long breaths. This was, admittedly, a bit too subtle for me.

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For $40 you can get a chop cup made to look like a Play-Doh cup.

Or for 50 cents you can get a Play-Doh cup and remind yourself that Play-Doh already sticks to the inside and realize that maybe it doesn’t make a ton of sense to use a ball in a chop cup routine that has the well-understood quality that it gets stuck in the cup.

Magic!!

100 Trick Repertoire Redux: Part One

I want to go back to my concept of a 100 Trick Repertoire, which is something I wrote about in The Amateur at the Kitchen Table. It’s a simple idea. You don’t need that book to understand it. It’s just the idea that the old adage that you should know six tricks that you do very well, is horseshit when it comes to the amateur/social performer. (And probably hasn’t even made sense for the professional performer since, like, the vaudeville days—but magicians are slow to evolve.)

First off, if you’re mentally satisfied and stimulated by regularly performing six tricks, then you are—I’m guessing—about three firing neurons away from being totally fucking braindead. You’re a dullard.

Second, the amateur/social performer needs a larger repertoire because they would quickly burn through their audience with their material otherwise. And they need stuff that works in various situations (where as a professional can more often dictate the situations in which they perform).

Today I’m going to give you my current philosophy/process for developing a 100 Trick Repertoire.

My repertoire has evolved and changed a lot since I came up with the idea. Not just in regards to the tricks that make up the repertoire (which should always be morphing and changing as you learn new effects and swap them in), but also in regards to the nature of the list itself. I used to include every type of trick on the list. Now I don’t.

These days I don’t include any big “special occasion” types of tricks that require crafting a very specific experience for someone. Instead I keep a separate list of those tricks and if someone is coming over, or I’m visiting someone, or I’m going to a party, or whatever the case may be, and I think I might want to do something “big,” then I’ll look over the list and pick something that would be good for that situation. Because these tricks aren’t ones I’ll be performing super regularly, I don’t include them in my 100 Trick Repertoire.

I also don’t include any tricks that require a specific prop or gimmick that I don’t intend to have on me day to day. So, for example, let’s say I have a trick I like that uses a specific gimmicked coin. Instead, of putting that in my 100 trick repertoire, what I do is add it to a list of “gimmick” tricks. Then what I do is start at the top of that list and carry around whatever gimmick is needed for that trick. Eventually, some days later, I’ll have the opportunity to perform it. Once I do, I’ll stop carrying around that gimmick and move to the next trick on the list and start carrying around whatever gimmick that requires. So I have pretty much a limitless list of gimmicked tricks I might use, but at any point in time there’s just one I’m actively carrying around with me. Obviously, if there’s something I’m really enjoying performing, then I’ll find some way to carry it around more frequently (perhaps keeping it in my computer bag) or I just won’t move to the next trick on the list until I feel I’ve burned out the current one.

Objects/Props/Gimmicks

So the tricks that make up my 100 Trick Repertoire currently are tricks that use:

1. Objects I frequently have on me

2. Objects that are readily accessible in many places

3. Objects that are commonly found in my primary social environments

4. Utility gimmicks that I plan to have on me regularly

Let’s break that down further.

Items I “frequently have on me” include:

Coins/Bills
A couple business cards
Credit cards
Ring
Keys
Pen
Rubber bands
Watch
Sunglasses
Phone (and things “in” the phone)

• Calculator

• Notepad

• Drawing App

• Photo Album

• Music

• Internet browser

• Camera

• etc.

Items that are readily accessible in many places:

Paper
Pen/Pencil/Sharpie
Books
Deck of cards (Which could be included in the above list as well. I don’t carry one in my pocket, but usually have one in my computer bag or car.)

If I had an office job, or went to the same pub a few times a week, those would be my “primary social environments.” Since I don’t at the moment, then it’s going to be coffee shops/cafes. Objects found in my primary social environments include:

Loyalty cards
Napkins
Sugar packets
Stirrer sticks
Coffee cups
Straws

The “utility gimmicks that I plan to have on me regularly* ” include:

Thumbtip
Loops
Thumb-writer
Peek Wallet

*I don’t usually have these “on me” as in “in my pockets.” But they’re frequently in my bag or in my car.

These lists aren’t complete, obviously, but they’ll give you an idea what I’m talking about.

Now, not everything in the 100 Trick Repertoire is completely impromptu (by my definition (the right definition)). Some stuff requires a small set-up that I need to do when no one is watching. But the idea is that the tricks don’t use anything that isn’t common to me or common to the environments in which I spend significant amounts of time.

Weighting

Okay, so now I have the list of potential objects I can work with. So at this point I’ll divvy up a sort of “theoretical” list of tricks to give myself a good variety. So it would be something like this:

30 card tricks (that’s quite a bit, but it’s easy to have 30 card tricks with very different premises.)
5 tricks that use a deck of cards and a Sharpie
10 tricks using my phone
10 non-card mentalism tricks (some using the nailwriter)
5 money tricks
3 propless tricks
3 rubber band tricks
3 ring tricks
3 loop tricks
3 thumbtip tricks
1 or 2 tricks each for the other items in the lists above that I have not yet mentioned

Rules

From there I get even more granular and come up with some specific requirements for my 100 Trick Repertoire. For example:

I want to always have one impromptu book test in my repertoire
I want to always have three good tricks for couples in my repertoire
I want to always have a completely impromptu trick with a time-travel premise in my repertoire
I want to always have at least five tricks in my repertoire that take no longer than 15 seconds each

The idea is to track any kind of specific things you want to make sure are always included in some form in your repertoire. If you go to the pool hall a lot, you might want to have three tricks that are specific to the pool hall. Maybe after a couple instances where you met some poker players socially and you felt like you missed an opportunity to do something that would appeal specifically to them, you decide to always have two pokers/gambling effects in your repertoire. That’s the sort of thing I’m talking about.

So, up to this point, we’ve looked at the repertoire as sort of an abstract thing. And we’ve done some categorizing in a few different ways:

The props/objects/gimmicks readily available to us
How we want to weight our usage of these objects/gimmicks
Any rules we want to have for our repertoire

And then comes the fun part as you build up your repertoire. At first it will just be a matter of making a list of tricks you like and want to perform. Then, as your repertoire begins to grow, you’ll notice gaps in it based on the rules and categories you’ve established and you’ll want to focus on trying to track down tricks specifically to fill those gaps.

One final note on crafting your working repertoire…In my opinion, there’s no reason to have duplicate effects taking up multiple spaces. Knowing six different Collectors routines seems wildly unnecessary.

Yes, but this one requires a table, this one I do standing, this one uses a gimm—

Bah-bah-bah… yeah, okay, I get it. But your mental processing power and practice time are finite resources. I believe you’re better off using them on a few different tricks rather than the same trick with various methods. When you have a large repertoire, you’re bound to have options. You don’t need force one given trick into every situation. But you do whatever the hell you want.

In two weeks I’ll do the second post in this series and tell you about my current way of maintaining my 100 Trick Repertoire in a way that keeps the tricks fresh in my mind while minimizing the time I need to spend practicing.

The Penguin Magic Monthly Interview That Wasn't, Part 3: The Conclusion

You have developed a somewhat unique style. Your magic is involved, personal, audience-centric, and creative. I’ve heard others call this type of magic Jerx inspired, or even Jerxian. What is the first thing that you remember creating or performing that was Jerxian?

Huh. That’s a good question. I wish I had a really concrete answer for it. But that would make it seem like I was doing magic in a traditional way for a long time and then just stumbled into a “Jerxian” performance. And that’s not really what it was. The truth is that it was a gradual progression and one day I just realized that the style of performance I was somewhat different than what other people were doing. It’s not that the aspects of the “Jerx style” (as you said: involved, personal, audience-centric, creative) were something that I brought to magic. They were always there, but they were on a spectrum. My contribution was just extending the end of that spectrum past where most people had considered viable previously.

So there was no demarcation where I thought, “Ah! This is a ‘jerxian’ routine.”

That being said, one of the first times I recognized the value of some of the elements I would incorporate in my later work is when I was on five-day retreat for my old day-job. I can’t say it’s a super specific memory. But I had a single deck of cards with me and was showing people some tricks over the course of those five days. And as the days passed the cards got marked up and signed and drawn on. And I ended up doing some variations on tricks from earlier in our time there, so themes were repeating, and ideas were recurring, and I was able to take advantage of their expectations from the earlier performances. That was very much a formative experience where I began to see how much stronger tricks were if they weren’t just isolated moments and if you could connect the tricks over time through thematic elements and stuff like that. That experience planted some seeds.

You have published half a dozen books and created a ton of online content. Are you running out of steam? Is it getting harder to create at the same level?

Not really. I feel like the more ideas I put out, the more ideas I have. I used to think I would need time away from magic and away from the site to generate ideas—to “refill the tank.” But in reality I just need time away as a rest from magic altogether. I don’t generate many ideas when I’m taking a break from thinking about magic and performing for people.

There were times, early on, when I thought maybe I’d run out of ideas if I kept pumping out content for years on end. But now I think just think, Have ALL the good ideas in magic been found? No. And if that’s the case then it means there are more for people to find, and I’m probably more likely to stumble across them than most because I spend so much time thinking about magic. So I won’t feel like I’m out of ideas until I feel there are no ideas left to be found by anyone. Which is not going to happen.

What bucket list items have you accomplished in magic? What are you looking to accomplish in the future?

There was never anything I really wanted to accomplish in magic. I guess writing the first book felt like an accomplishment when I first did it. And I think if I had just written one book it would still feel that way. But at a certain point, if you do something enough times, it stops feeling like an accomplishment. Which is too bad. Otherwise I could still be celebrating shitting in the toilet consistently.

As far as what I’m looking to accomplish in the future, my lack of ambition may sound pathetic, but I don’t really have things I’m striving for. My priorities in life are happiness and freedom. And I make the choices that I feel will bring me the most of those things. But my happiness isn’t very outcome-dependent. I’m not like, “I just won’t be satisfied until someone produces my screenplay!!!!” (Although I do think it would be fun to write a movie.)

If people like your style of magic, what are other resources they could look into? Who else out there is making magic like you?

I know there are some other people who were inspired by the site to explore similar territory. I don’t really follow any of that work, but it’s not because I doubt that it’s any good. It’s because I think my idea of what this site is—and what my work as a whole is—would suffer if I was influenced by others who are along their own paths.

Now, for my sake, I’m sure I’d be better off if I was actively pursuing ideas and conclusions other people had uncovered in this style of magic. But I think what’s interesting about the site and the books etc., is that you’re following one person’s journey as he discovers certain things through experimentation and performance. Not through reading other people’s ideas.

Like if you’re really into Tamariz, I feel like it would be cool if he kept a blog for 50 years and you were able to watch the ideas come into being and change and morph and get amplified or discarded based on his experiences. That seems more interesting than just him saying, “Here are my conclusions.”

As far as people who came before me who explored similar territory, there aren’t a ton that I know of.

Michael Weber is someone I frequently hear comparisons to. Not in the sense of our magical intellect (I’m clearly much smarter) but because I think we touch on similar concepts, just in somewhat different styles.

Also, your boy, Acar “Alvo Stockman” Altinsel, before he was too busy counting his Penguin Magic money, put out some tricks that have similarities to the stuff I’ve written about. Namely, Poetry Reading, Mix Tape, and Postmentalism. That material is all unabashedly about the effect and not reset time, pocket management, or how big of an audience it plays to.

What new habit, behavior, or belief, have you adopted recently that has changed your magic for the better?

My new habit/behavior I’ll save for a future post, probably Wednesday, because it would take too long to explain.

A belief that isn’t actually new to me, but is something I’ve recommitted to lately, is the belief that most tricks should be under 10 seconds or over 5 minutes. That’s where I get my strongest reactions. Tricks that come out of nowhere and seem spontaneous, or tricks that allow time for some sort of build up of anticipation and tension. I feel like everything that’s important either happens instantly or takes some time. And so a two and a half minute card trick almost feel inconsequential by its nature.

Now, the trick itself doesn’t have to be long, but the experience of it, the build-up to it, and the story that goes along with it should take some time (assuming it’s not a trick that’s over in seconds). If I look at a 2 minute trick and think, “This would be boring if I made it any longer,” then that suggests that it’s not a good trick. Every story worth telling or experience worth having should be able to sustain at least five minutes of interaction.

(Of course I’m talking about amateur/social magic.)

If you could talk to every magician in the world, what would you tell them?

“You’re killing it! Keep doing what you’re doing!”

I wouldn’t tell them anything useful. I like that the average magician isn’t very good. There was a concept I wrote about last year called “The Bubble” which refers to a person’s range of appreciation for a given art-form. Bad magicians aren’t good for magic, but they’re very good for me. They set people’s “bubble” very low. Which means I can come in with something that’s just pretty good and have a profound effect on them. And I still have a lot of room to grow and show them even more powerful stuff.

What can we do to support you as a creator?

Nothing! I’m supported. Thanks though.

Bring Out The Magic In Your Mind - The Highlights

Sure, I like to have fun on this site. I post my silly little gifs, or photoshops of Joshua Jay, or make some jokes about the predatory nature of kid-show magicians. Not today! Today I have something much more useful planned for you. Something that will not only start your weekend off right, but will go on to change the course of your life, I would bet.

In 1964 Al Koran released a book for the public called “Bring Out the Magic In Your Mind.”

A self-help book written by a magician for the general public is always going to be an odd sort of thing. The book is being published because of that person’s fame, but the person isn’t going to actually write about the tools he used to garner that fame. Al Koran didn’t write, “My self-help advice is: If you want to make a spectator’s ring vanish and re-appear with your keys, use a reel.” Instead he wrote stuff like this in the chapter, The Magic of Flowers:

Flowers are vibratory and give off radiations of a positive kind.

I have known women replace a pearl necklace with real gardenias on the neck, supported by transparent adhesive tape. It is far more glamorous than the most costly pearls.

Whatever you say, Al!

This is just some of the wisdom that—as the cover of the book suggests—will “launch you on the road to success.”

I recently picked up a copy of this book second-hand. I’m drawn to this sort of thing. Some of this stuff I appreciate ironically, some of it unironically, and some of the stuff in books about the power of your mind just make for good presentational ideas and patter.

Fortunately for me (and now you) the copy I bought was already highlighted.

So for today’s post I want to share with you the highlights form Al Koran’s Bring Out The Magic In Your Mind. Hopefully you will find these insights life-changing.

The Magic of Belief

• The magic of belief grants phenomenal results for all who accept it.

• Before I leap out of bed, I always say, “I believe, I believe, I believe.”

• To bring out the magic in your mind, belief is the very first essential.

How Belief Works

• The human body is a magnet. Sleep with the head of the bed North, so that you are parallel with the magnetic Pole running through the earth, and not lying across it. This is very important.

• Remember never to cross your legs, if possible, fold your arms or clasp your hands. [He goes on to note that you shouldn’t do these things unless you’re having “discordant thoughts.”]

• Discordant thoughts are not for you, and you must cut off the power of evil by crossing your legs, folding your arms, and clasping your hands.

• Belief is a positive word, and therefore creative. Everything negative is dead, and has no creative power whatever. Negative means reject; to put aside, not to be used.

• You must polarize your thoughts and words.

• Take deep breaths of this electro-magnetism; try it, live it, love it, become it. Don’t worry about what it is, but use it.

• Be able to say ‘no’ to the things you do not want to happen. You must rebel and say, I will have no more of this kind of evil, then it stops. Say, I’ll have no more of this from now on, and lo, by the magic you have brought out of your mind, the trouble stops.

The Magic of Visualization

• Don’t draw lines between the possible and the impossible. Leave it to your subconscious to get it for you in its own magic way by command of your will.

You obtain your desire by feeling as if you had already got what you want now.

• Visualize. See pictures. Look at your scrap book every day, and believe.

• Hold but one pessimistic thought and you will be cut off from the magic you are seeking. Cultivate a strong belief, be absolutely positive, and you will release this wonderful magic power. Be an optimist par excellence.

• You must repeat over and over again the name of the thing you want. Repetition is essential.

• Don’t ever complain. Bless every condition you are in, bless what you already have, then you can work magic.

Power of the Subconscious

• Give commands to your subconscious. The subconscious never fails to obey any order commanded, if the order is clear and emphatic and given with feeling.

• You must act on a hunch that your subconscious gives you, because the subconscious is always right.

Silence and Meditation

• You must silence your thoughts. Empty your mind.

• Say with all your heart, ‘Let there be wealth’ or ‘Let there be health’ or anything else you want, and these things are bound to manifest.

• Determine there will be no more chaos in your life, no more muddling through. Lift your mind high, high above the stars, and meditate.

The Magic of Love

• The torch of life is fed by the oil of love.

• Say to yourself again and again, ‘I will try always to be in love.’ In love with everything. When you love life you are able to say, ‘This is my happy day.’

• The other day a woman said of a man, “If he calls me dear, I’ll smack his face!” Never, never in a thousand years could such a person do magic.

The Secret of Wealth

• The money-conscious parent teaches the child wealth wants me, not I want wealth.

• Refuse to deal in little coins.

• This is the great secret of money magic. You must bless your money when you send it out, and you must ask it to return multiplied.

• Roll your notes. Put an elastic band around them, because, don’t you see, it represents without beginning and without end.

• Take yourself where riches are. Take yourself to the very best hotel for tea or go to a famous and smart hotel bar for a drink.

• Good luck comes to anyone who gives pleasure to others.

The Magic of Friendship

• Mystery lends charm to the personality.

• Always find something fresh to admire and appreciate in the object of your affection, and tell them so! Compliment again and again. Be grateful for friendships.

• You must have friends. Get out more. Mix more freely. Meet other people, widen your interests.

The Magic of Change

• Try something new every now and again, every day if you can.

• Change brings magic.

The Magic of Right Impressions

• You must impress the world with your importance if you would be a success, and if you would work magic.

• Pomp and power go together.

• You have got to look like a success before you are a success.

The Magic of Laughter

• If you can laugh, you are mentally healthy; the mentally ill can’t laugh.

The Magic of Colour

• By loving everybody you develop the rose-pink colour of loving kindness in your aura.

• Look at violet or amethyst if you want to reach a higher dimension, to purify your mind or solve a problem.

• If it’s money and abundance you want, concentrate on the little square of emerald green silk.

• To sharpen your intellect, yellow is helpful.

• By wearing red garments the colour has actually been proved to seep into the skin and make a man strong and dynamic.

• Green is employed for the decoration of eye hospitals, because green is most helpful to the sight.

The Magic of Right Habits

• Poverty is the result of the wrong habits of thinking.

• Do something, because action is necessary no matter what habit you desire to break.

• The word never should never be used in magic, except in the phrase, ‘You never know.’

The Magic of Music

• Music is felt in the same part of the brain that responds to pain. They believe that the sound of music can block off the brain’s reaction to pain by ‘jamming’ the signals from the nerve centres which are affected. Such is the magic of music.

Have Done With Fear

• What you are most afraid of won’t happen.

______

And that, on page 179 of this 288 page book, was the final highlight that the original book’s owner made.

Perhaps there was nothing of interest in the last 100 pages. Perhaps they felt they were already on the “road to success” and didn’t need any more information. Perhaps, “what they were most afraid of” was getting hit by a bus, and, with a new sense of invincibility, they crossed the street without looking. It’s hard to say.

I’d like to thank the previous owner—whoever that may be—for giving us their highlights of the book.

Tucked away in the book were two relics from that owner.

First, a business card for a Hypnosis Consultant in Sarasota.

And then this handwritten note.

Here’s to hoping the health, wealth, and understanding they needed came their way.

Casualness and Clarity

These are some not-yet-fully-formed thoughts I’ve been having recently about two separate approaches to instilling belief in a spectator. Sorry if this isn’t 100% coherent. I’m still working through the ideas.

Imagine these two scenarios:

Scenario A: We go out for lunch. After the meal you head to the restroom. When you get back I’m putting my credit card away, “I took care of the check. You’ll get me next time, yeah?”

Scenario B: We go out for lunch. After the meal you head to the restroom. When you get back I say, “I took care of the check. Your meal came to 18 dollars, and mine was 19 dollars. Here’s my copy of the check. I left a ten dollar tip. I used my American Express card. Here’s my American Express account homepage. You see it says there’s a $37 charge, yes? That’s for the meal. But it’s just ‘pending’ at this time. When it eventually goes through it will be for $47 because it will include the tip. If you want, I’ll send you a copy of my credit card statement when it comes so you can be sure.”

In which scenario would you be more certain that I actually paid the check? I’m not sure what the answer is. In Scenario B you definitely have more evidence that I paid the check. But in Scenario A you would likely never even think to question it.

I’ve been finding it useful these days—when trying to find the right move or technique and the right moment to employ that move or technique—to think if what I want to emphasize at that moment is clarity or casualness.

These are, I believe, the primary ways you can reliably establish belief in your spectators. Either your actions can be so clear that they can’t help but believe what your actions indicate. Or your actions can be so casual that they don’t think to question them.

For example, if I very fairly and clearly draw your attention to me placing a coin from my right hand into my left—and my false transfer technique is flawless—you may be convinced the coin is in my left hand. And that’s because my technique is strong enough to overcome your scrutiny of that action.

But if I just tap my hands together and then act like the coin is in my left hand, that action may also overcome your scrutiny, because the casualness of the action didn’t arouse much scrutiny in the first place. Your mind may process it and take it at face-value before it even knows that was a moment to be questioned.

The key to this concept however is that casualness and clarity are at opposite ends of a spectrum. You can choose to emphasize one or the other but you can’t really mix the two. They don’t mix. (You can mix them in different elements of the same trick. But not in the same element. For example, I can’t casually show my hand empty and show it empty with absolute clarity.)

When I have a trick that’s not working it’s usually because some element of it is stuck somewhere between clarity and casualness, and I need to push it one way or the other. You need to be on either end of the spectrum. If you’re in the middle you’re kind of accomplishing nothing.

As a social performer I would prefer to only rely on “casualness” to instill belief, but that’s not really possible. Most effects require at least some clarity to make them hit home. For example, the Ambitious Card. You can’t use casualness to fool people with that trick. They need clarity that their card is going in the middle of the deck. If that’s not 100% clear, the trick falls apart.

The general rule I use is that if I’m trying to hide something, then I strive for casualness. If I’m trying to emphasize something (often something that’s not true), then I strive for clarity.

Here are the two primary mistakes I make or see others making:

Mistake #1 - Sacrificing the Casualness of a Simple Technique For Something That’s More Advanced

Let’s say you have an “okay” push-thru false shuffle. You can do one as long as you concentrate on it and go somewhat slowly. Your “okay” false shuffle is actually somewhat worthless as a tool of deception. It’s not something that gets you halfway to where you want to be. It’s something that has you stuck midway between the two extremes of fooling: casualness and clarity. You can’t do it with enough ease that it seems like a casual shuffle, and you can’t do it expertly enough to really have them focus in on it to see the cards “clearly being shuffled.”

In this case you’re better off doing a simple overhand false shuffle and some sloppy false cuts that you can do haphazardly, even if that’s theoretically less convincing a mix than the push-through shuffle. In practice, the casualness with which you execute the maneuver while interacting with your friends is going to make them less likely to question the action.

Mistake #2 - Not Effectively Demonstrating the Clarity of the Conditions Because They Don’t Want to “Run When They’re Not Being Chased.”

I find a lot of magicians end up in a kind of grey area between the “invisibility” that casualness brings and the conviction that clarity brings. And it comes down to one piece of advice that I think is overused: “Don’t run if you’re not being chased.” That advice leads to a lot of muddy effects.

Traditional magic wisdom: “Don’t run if you’re not being chased! Don’t say, ‘Notice that the card case is empty.’ Instead just flash the empty card case.”

This is such common advice in magic that I feel weird questioning it. But the truth is, if you actually perform for people, and if you end up talking to those people after your performance, and you ask for a critical assessment of what you did, you are bound to have this sort of conversation very often:

“Well, I think the card must have been in the case from the beginning.”

“No. I showed it empty at the start of the trick.”

“You did?”

“Yeah, before I set the case down.”

“Uhm, okay. If you say so. I don’t remember that.”

How would anyone know to make a concrete mental note of an empty card case unless you tell them to? And if you really were going to make something appear in a card case with magic powers, wouldn’t emphasizing its emptiness be the first thing you would do?

There’s nothing wrong with saying, “And I place this single quarter—and nothing else—in my empty left hand.” If it adds to the clarity and conviction of an effect, then you should say it (assuming whatever technique you’re using allows for the increased scrutiny of saying such a thing). What you don’t want to do is just leave it up to the spectator to remember the details of what happened, because they won’t be forgiving. “I bet he had two quarters. One behind the other.” Once you start trying to retroactively clarify what you did (“No! I showed you a single quarter. You saw the edge!”) then you’ve lost.

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Okay, let me try and summarize the ideas here.

There are two primary ways you can create belief with a spectator:

1. Casualness

   • Make your actions feel so innocent and commonplace that the spectator doesn’t think to question them.

   • “Don’t run when you’re not being chased.”

2. Clarity

   • Make your actions so clear that they can’t be questioned.

   • “Go ahead and run. Just be certain you can outrun them.”

Monday Mailbag #41

Is there any chance you would ever do a collaboration with Phill Smith? You are two of my favorite magic creators and I really love your thoughts on Stegosaurus and especially Quinta, which I think are game-changing. I’d love to see the two of you collaborate in some way in the future. —DH

Hmmm… okay, sure! I mean, I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you. But I suppose anything is possible. I too am a big fan of Phill’s work. And I have some further concepts to be used with Quinta that I will likely share in some form someday.

By the way, Phill has a kickstarter that is ending in a couple days that I would recommend you sign up for. I will definitely be doing so myself. It’s a special deck of cards and a wrist band that creates a neural link between one’s mind and the deck of cards. (That’s the presentation, I mean. Not the reality.) You can see more details on the kickstarter page.

Now, if I had one trick to show someone, and I wanted to leave them as amazed as possible, this is probably not the trick I would show them. However I think it’s a good trick/presentation to have in your repertoire in order to keep your audience off balance. This is something that’s on the edge of believability. It’s the sort of thing you can perform in such a way that they are forever in a state of limbo in regards to whether they believe it or not. Or you can perform it in such a way that it feels quite legitimate, and then you ramp it up at the end and do something that seems beyond impossible. So just when they think they have an understanding on what might be real, you mess with them a little more. I think it will be a lot of fun. At the very least it will be a change of pace, as I don’t have any other tricks with this particular premise. Get in on it before the kickstarter ends.

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Do you collect decks of cards? If so, do you display them in your home or are they stored away? —EC

There was a time, maybe 20 years ago, when I tried to collect every new deck I heard about. It was actually kind of feasible at the time. Or at least it felt that way. There weren’t a bunch of different companies releasing decks constantly. There was no kickstarter. Bicycle would release green Rider Backs and that seemed like a big deal. So every couple of months I might hear about a new deck and then pick it up for my collection whether I liked it or not.

Then, as more decks got released, I started only buying ones that I liked aesthetically. Usually they had some kind of mid-century design element to them.

However, these days, I really only buy and display decks that I feel I can attach a story to. The Phill Smith deck mentioned above would be such a deck. Or the Jerx Deck #4. Ideally I want people to be able to pick up any of the decks I have out at my place and for me to have something interesting to say about it other than, “I bought it cause I liked it.”

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[Update 4/23 - I’ve removed a question and answer from this edition of the Mailbag because it mentioned a product in a not 100% flattering light. And the guy behind the product emailed me and was all defensive about it. Normally I would post such emails for you all to get a kick out of, but these weren’t the funny kind of angry emails. They were the sad, depressing kind.

However, I received a number of nice emails about the simple routine mentioned below. So I want to keep that there and the method to do the routine with a normal deck.

The subject of the original question was what justification I would use to do a peek of a word written on a playing card.]

Here’s what I’d do… I’d remove the joker from the deck. I’d note the fact the joker is often used as a replacement card for lost or damaged cards by writing that card’s value on the joker. I’d talk about my mom’s extended Italian family and how playing cards was always a big part of our interaction when I was growing up. I’d have them imagine a deck of cards spread face up on the table and a big dollop of marinara sauce falling on one of them, ruining the card. I’d have them write the name of whatever card they’re thinking of on the joker and slide it into the middle of the deck, which I would case and set aside. Then I’d reveal the card the wrote in some way.

Cards justified. Writing justified.

But…

Having the ability to peek writing and then using that to reveal a playing card could be seen as uninspiring, considering we already have so many ways to reveal a playing card.

So I would probably add another element to it. I’d have them write down the card and another piece of information. How do we naturally involve another piece of information. Hmm… I’d probably say something like, “Whenever I would alter one of the jokers in this way. I’d always write a little message on it to. For whoever’s deck it was. So I might write, ‘Hi Grandma!’ or ‘Hi, Uncle Bill!’ And that always made the card weirdly special to them. I know my grandma held onto a couple of these jokers long after the deck itself had been replaced with a newer one. So I want you to also think of a favorite relative of yours and write a greeting to them on the card as well.”

Then I’d have them put the card in the deck, cull it to the bottom, and case the deck (peeking the information in the process of casing the deck). If I was at a table I might cull it and then cop it or just drop it off the bottom of the deck into my lap and give the deck to the spectator. This may seem somewhat bold, but as I believe I’ve written about before, culling is a somewhat underrated sleight. Laymen see a card that’s put in the middle of the deck as a card that’s trapped by a bunch of cards on either side. In testing, when we asked people about how they would go about getting a card from the middle to the bottom without someone seeing, they had the concept of pulling the card free from the deck and placing it on the bottom “sneakily”, and they had the idea of cutting the deck very quickly (essentially a pass). But there was no real understanding in laypeople of the concept that a card in the middle can be easily extracted from a spread and slid to the bottom.

Next I’d ask them to imagine playing a card game with this relative and them needing one particular card to complete their hand. Blah, blah, blah. Eventually I name the card they’re thinking of and after some thought the person they imagined playing the game with as well.

The nice thing about this is you could go into it anytime, anywhere so long as you had a deck of cards and a marker. No special gimmicks needed. You could even use a borrowed deck since you’re just writing on the joker.

Dustings #35

Here’s an interesting idea from Michal Kociolek (who is also the person responsible for the April 1st—Vanishing Inc meets The Jerx header image).

It’s a way of transferring a signature from one card to another. So someone could sign this card:

And you’d end up with the signature on this card:

I’ll get to the method in a second. It’s pretty clever. But it can’t be done during a performance (unless you had someone assisting you backstage). That raises the question if there’s any real benefit to a signature transfer that can’t be done in performance. If you signed something at one point and later I show you that signature on something else at another point, I feel like you’re just going to assume I copied the signature, yes? So to really take advantage of this method, it would need to be in a context where “you just copied my signature” isn’t a viable other explanation.

But let’s get to the method. First I’ll explain it with pictures, then I’ll give you Mihcal’s written explanation.

Here it is…

“The thing that is used to cover the back of the Tally Ho card is a peel off face mask gel that dries down and, apart from creating a slightly more reflective surface than the regular card has, is practically invisible. It's a pretty weird thing to work with, as you can handle the card like it's nothing special.

After moving the layer with the signature, the outer side is not tacky at all, and you can work on the edges to blend everything nicely (the gel layer dissolves if you use, for example, a slightly damp sponge. Or just use a finger to "model" it). Again, the surface is just a tiny bit shinier than a regular card.

(If you'd stick that card into a clear block of ice, that minimal distortion would make it totally invisible, for example.)”

So yeah, I think it’s a method in search of an ideal application at this point.

You may also want to consider it as a way to duplicate a signature as opposed to just transfer one. For example, if someone signs a card (a normal card) at some point, you could later cover it with the face mask material. Then duplicate their signature on top of the face mask. Peel it off and apply it to a duplicate card. Now you have two identical signed cards which could be useful for a burned and regenerated type of card, or anything along those lines.

But again, my imagination is failing me at coming up with a situation where this would be the best option. If you think of something, let me know.

Here are the ingredients in the face mask Michal uses. If you want to experiment with it and try something similar.

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Some days I like to sit alone in a room for hours and meditate on this page from an old issue of Penguin Magic Monthly.

This is a “gag” according to the magazine. Here is the entirety of what they tell you to do.

That’s it. That’s the end of this entry in the magazine. Place an eyeball on a pad. I imagine you’re then supposed to say, “It’s an iPad,” or something “funny” like that, but they don’t really delve into what you’re supposed to do after you’ve placed the eye on the pad. I guess you just wait for the hysterical laughter and cries of “This is the funniest magician I’ve ever seen!” to end so you can move on with your show.

I particularly like this part…

Mmm… yes, yes. So true. If there’s one thing you can say about the act of putting an eyeball on a drawing pad it’s that you are invoking the rich artistic history of using “iconic words and images that people can relate to.”

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Great to see Michael Feldman on Fool Us last week wearing his GLOMM membership shirt.

Didn’t see anyone else on the show wearing a GLOMM shirt—the GLOMM of course being the one magic organization you’re not allowed to be in if you’re a sex offender—so yeah, that kind of made me wonder. 🤔

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This is kind of interesting.

Some early depictions of Jesus show him using a magic wand. pic.twitter.com/vBI1U1GM2E

— Museum Archive (@ArtifactsHub) April 11, 2021

And then there’s this…