Gardyloo #64

Well, this is pretty delightful...

On Wednesday, I wrote up the Harmony Ritual, a trick I performed last weekend for a woman named Elena who I met at a resort in the Catskills. 

A couple days ago she called and left me a message. She wanted to tell me that her first day at her new job had gone well. And then she said something I found very interesting. Here is an excerpt from the voicemail. (The audio quality isn't great, it's out of context, and she speaks with an accent, so I'll transcribe it after.)

Voicemail

If you didn't catch that, she says, "I actually did the ritual last night and it was balanced again."

That's right. A few days after we were together, she went and performed Miraskill on herself. This is classic smear technique type of stuff, where the boundaries of the effect become blurred past the performance itself. It's the type of magic that's really only possible when you shift the focus off yourself. Do I think she really believes that this is some magic ritual? No. But you establish the effect in such a way that you allow for harmless fantastical beliefs. It's like wishing on your birthday candles or throwing a coin in a fountain. In our heads we know it's nonsense, but in our hearts we play along.

---

There's a trick I do regularly that requires me to know what ESP symbol a spectator is thinking of. A set of marked ESP cards definitely seems like the easy way to get the information, and it is. But this is something I want to do in casual situations and carrying around ESP cards is decidedly not casual. And while drawing out the symbols on business cards or something else at hand is an okay option, it would require a more "hands on" technique to know which symbol they chose.

So I thought about maybe creating a drawing app where you could have them draw one of the symbols and the app would "decode" what they drew and signal it to you in some way. But after thinking about that idea it felt too complicated both programmatically and logistically. (Most people don't know the ESP shapes, so I'd have to write them down first, and if I'm writing them down then clearly there's something to write with, so why am I having them draw on an app?)

Better yet, I thought, if I could just have them look at the symbols on a website and somehow know which one they were looking at, that would seem ultra-fair.

And I realized I had essentially worked my way around to another use for my pal Marc Kerstein's app Xeno.

So I emailed him and said, "Make this for me!" And he was like, "Y-y-y-y-yes sir. Anything for you, sir." (Dude's a total puss.) And now it's available in the app.

Xeno is an app that allows you to know what a spectator is looking at on a series of different websites. (The sites include lists of movies, songs, names, astrological signs and now the ESP symbols.) The nice thing about it is you don't have to touch their phone and they don't have to make any type of selection on their screen. They just look at something on the page. 

I told Marc I'd write the copy for the ESP symbol site. With only five symbols, it might not make sense for you to send someone to a special website. Why not just rattle them off and have them think of one? And why does this site exist in the first place? Why would someone start a site to just list five ESP symbols? Well, they wouldn't, of course. 

So I wanted to have a site that justified its own existence and justified why you had people go to this particular site (and not Wikipedia or something). With that goal in mind, I wrote up a site that is, supposedly, designed to help people increase their ability to transmit and receive ESP symbols. The author of the site has found that by concentrating on the unique physical and symbolic attributes of the shapes, your success at transmitting them will increase significantly. So next to each shape there is a little write-up in regards to how to think about that shape to increase the success of transmission.

This justifies why you needed them to go to that specific site, and why you need them to scroll and look at their particular shape (so they can read the entry that goes along with it). 

The nice thing is, because the site tells them how to think about the symbol, you can act as if you're picking up on more than just the shape. You can pick up on the features they're thinking of or the symbolic meanings. 

As I said, I wanted to have this site so I could perform a trick that normally involved carrying ESP cards with me. But honestly, I'll probably use this site even when I'm doing an effect that requires me to have ESP cards. If you do any of the effects out there where a spectator "reads your mind" with ESP cards, this would be a good lead in because you can quickly and unequivocally read their mind and then wave it off as if it's no big deal, "Oh, I do that all the time. What I really want to try is to get you to do it." Then you can have them scan through the rest of this site and the site becomes something of an "imp" or a "buy-in." This site—which suggests the manner in which you think about the shapes is important—adds an interesting layer to what might be seen as "obviously just a trick." Why did he have me read that page if this is just a trick? Is there maybe more to it?

And finally, here's the choreography for this. You bring out your phone and say, "I want you to look at something before we start." Then you change your mind. "Actually, can you go to this site on your phone?" You tell them the site, and drop your hand with the phone to your side where it's forgotten. They go to the site and you sidle up next to them to look at the screen with them. While in this position you do the first part of your dirty work. Don't read the whole introductory text with them. Just summarize it for them. "Ok. So this guy thinks he's come up with a way to increase the success of transmitting ESP symbols. I've tried it and actually does seem to work better. Think of one of those shapes." You step away. They tell you they have one in mind. You turn your back and tell them to scroll down to where it describes how to project that shape. They do that. You do what you need to and put your phone away and you're good to go.

---

In the last post I compared what my mind sees as the "obviousness" of the method of Miraskill to using a microwave to vanish an ice cube. Well, as it turns out, that analogy was perhaps more apropos than I thought because what I see as "obvious" in both cases seems to not be the case. Miraskill fools people and ice doesn't melt in the microwave. (Well, it will eventually, but not like you'd expect.)

I think I would have fallen for this if it was presented as a trick. You put a glass of water and a glass of ice in your microwave. You microwave it on high for a minute. While it's going, you tell me about this primo ice you've been buying. "I have it shipped in from Holland. It's super high quality." When the timer dings, the water is now hot (proving the microwave works) but the ice hasn't melted at all.

If you find some really dumb person who's super into health food, you can tell them that it's the purest ice in the world ("because, as you can see, it's impervious to outside radiation"). Then sell them a tray of cubes for $62.

---

I'm psyched for my friend and frequent Jerx collaborator, Stasia Burrington's forthcoming deck of playing/oracle cards, The Magic Neko deck which is available for pre-order now.

Now I've got a message for some of my younger male readers. About 15 or so years ago, Ellusionist put out something called the Black Tiger Deck. It was a black deck of playing cards and on the box there was a tiger who was...like... flexing or some shit? Like he was in a pose that no tiger has ever been in.

It was the epitome of Ellusionist's corniness. And I have no doubt they made a mint off these decks because Ellusionist knows their audience. A bunch of virgins definitely bought the deck thinking they'd take it to school and girls would be breathlessly fanning themselves, "Who is this sexy bad-boy with this black deck of cards with the super-ripped tiger on the case? I can't wait to get to know this virile rebel!"

Here's the deal, you want a girl to pay attention to you? Don't get the deck of cards that says, "I'm compensating for my low testosterone." Get Stasia's deck. Women (and men) of all ages are taken with her esthetic. You keep that out on the lunch table. A girl picks it up and oohs and ahhs over its cuteness. She asks why you have the deck. You say a friend of a friend designed it. (I'm your friend. Stasia's my friend. It's true enough.) And you grabbed it today because there's something you're working on with it. Then you point out that the case says it can be used as an oracle deck and there's this little fortune-telling ritual you'd like to try. Cute drawings, kittens, fortune-telling rituals: you'll be a girl magnet. 

Then do a trick in the guise of a fortune-telling routine. Make it positive. Don't be like, "Uhhhh... I think you're going to get cancer." There should be some sort of magic surprise/coincidence at the end. Don't take credit for it. Blame the deck or the universe or her "energy." Don't make it something about you or your "compatibility" with her. Too soon. When you're done, don't do any more tricks. Tell her you have to get going and excuse yourself. Be a little mysterious.Before you go, imply you might have something else you're working on that you'd like to show her in the future. "You have a very unique energy," you say. Then go on your way. Just plant the seed, baby. Trust me. I'll Cyrano your ass into going to prom with the head cheerleader if you just have a little faith.

The Harmony Ritual aka (I've Had) The Time of My Life

Imagine

This past weekend I was up in the Catskill Mountains of New York at a resort with some friends. If you've ever seen Dirty Dancing, it was kind of like that. There was swimming and boating and shuffleboard. I carried a watermelon. I put baby in a corner. There were lots of old-folks doddering around, but also a contingent of younger people as well breathing some new life into these resorts in the mountains. And yes, there was even some late night dancing going on. Sadly, it didn't quite get as "dirty" as I had hoped (my kind offer to "fist someone during a Viennese Waltz" got no takers).

In all seriousness, it was a legitimately fun time. I loved it, but I'm pretty easy to please. It was nice to be around a bunch of people who were primarily interacting with each other and not their phones. I know I sound 100 years old, but I am finding increasing value in real human interaction. And that is one of the primary benefits of magic as a leisure activity: it demands people engage in the moment.

On our first night there, the group I was with met the people who were staying in the cabin next to ours. They were four friends in their late-20s/early-30s who had come up for a few days from NYC. They were all cool people, but I particularly hit it off with one of the women in the group whose name was Elena. She was from Portugal originally, had chin-length dark hair and her wardrobe seemed to only consist of shift dresses and bikinis (the former she would peel off to reveal the latter whenever the sun was out). She told really inappropriate jokes but would then giggle so sweetly afterwards that it was impossible to take offense. I was completely charmed by her.

On the second night there, she and I were hanging out on the couch in the small bungalow my group was staying in. She knew I did some magic and had seen a couple quick tricks in the past two days. Now I was telling her about a related interest I had in old fortune-telling games and other different little rituals that were passed down from generation to generation. I told her there was one I had just learned the details of and I asked her if she'd like to try it. She smiled and clapped her hands in front of her heart. She was in.

I went to my bag and grabbed a few things: a piece of paper with some writing on it, a deck of cards, and a little amethyst crystal. 

I came back and set those items between us on the couch. 

I gave her the deck of cards and asked her to shuffle it. 

"I learned this from an old Romanian fortune-teller who was my friend's aunt. She showed me all sort of interesting things. She read my coffee grounds. Have you heard of reading tea leaves? In Romania they read coffee grounds. But this was the most interesting thing she showed me." 

"It's called a Harmony Ritual. And what it's supposed to do is identify an area of imbalance or stress in your life, and then rebalance you and put you in the proper headspace to handle that area."

I read the hand-written instructions I had which told her to take the deck she shuffled and cut it into four packets and place them in a diamond pattern. She was to take one packet and touch it to her head and replace it, she was to touch the next packet to her heart, the next to her stomach, and last to her groin. "Romanians believed these were the four areas that needed to be in balance to confront any issue. The head/intellect, the heart/compassion, the stomach/'hunger,' and the groin/passion."

The instructions then had her shuffle all the packets together and mix the deck as much as she wanted. Things were heating up...

Okay, let's pause here for a moment and get into the method. I know we haven't really even hit what the effect is yet, but it will make more sense this way because (most of you) already know the method.

Method

What I'm performing for her here is Miraskill. (If you don't know how to do Miraskill, go crack a book. This blog isn't here to teach classic card tricks.) 

The interesting thing about this is that it's Miraskill without any predictions.

I know what you're thinking, "Andy....You're WILD!" (Ugh... why am I wasting all these great Dirty Dancing references on you bozos? I need more chicks in my readership.)

A reader, N.R., had written me with the idea of doing Miraskill as part of a ritual or reading of sorts. So instead of two predictions, you would do the first round and the disparity between reds and blacks would be indicative of some kind of imbalance. Then you'd enact some ritual and, in the next round, reds and blacks would be even, indicating some increased balance or harmony.

I really liked the idea but I thought it could be stronger and more personal. You see, with the traditional Miraskill, you have two rounds that are essentially identical. You make two predictions and they come true. With N.R.'s version there was no "effect" in the first round. It just established a baseline. The second round demonstrated the "balance" that the ritual had restored.

What I wanted to do was use the first round to "diagnose" an area of imbalance in the person's life, and the second round to suggest that area of imbalance had been addressed in some way.

How do I mean?

Well, imagine you have a friend who is going through a rough spot in her love life and you want to give her a little psychological boost.

So you go through the first round of the trick with her. At the bottom of the instructions you've written down, there is a "key" to decoding the results of the process.

+2 Red = Imbalance regarding family
+4 Red = Imbalance regarding job/changing career
+6 Red = Imbalance regarding friends/social circle
+2 Black = Imbalance regarding health
+4 Black = Imbalance regarding love/romantic relationships
+6 Black = Imbalance regarding finances

Now, of course, you just set up the first round so the outcome relates to the issue the person is having in her real life. When that round is over she counts up the cards and comes up with 4 more blacks than reds. You consult your notes. "Okay... what does that mean... alright, it looks like that means there's an issue with your romantic relationships." Bingo! It's as if the cards have accurately honed in on an issue she's struggling with. 

You don't have to secretly find out what someone's biggest concern is. You just learn it from your normal interaction with them. The trick isn't weakened if they know you know what their issue is. It's not a trick about your skill, it's a trick about this weird old ritual. That's the fun part.

And I think this version naturally addresses a weakness of the method better than the traditional effect does. When Miraskill is performed as a prediction, it doesn't make complete sense that your prediction is the difference between reds and blacks. If you really knew what would happen, why not say 12 reds and 8 blacks or whatever? But in this version, the whole premise is about imbalance, so it make sense that we are just talking about the difference between the two.

Okay, let's get back to my night with Elena so you can see how I finish this off...

Elena deals out the cards in pairs. She ends up with four more red cards than black cards.

"Okay... four more red cards. Let's see," I say as I consult my notes. "Okay, that means you're feeling an imbalance in regards to work or your career."

"Does it really say that?" she asked.

"Yes," I said, and showed her the paper. 

"Oh. That's very true," she said. "Remember I was telling you about my new job?"

"Ooohhh... yeah... I think so," I said, as if searching my brain. The night before, in a conversation with a bigger group, she had mentioned starting a new job with a fashion design company. And she was very nervous about it because it involved communicating with a lot of different people, both in the office and around the world, and she was self-conscious about her accent and her English speaking ability. 

"Well, let's do the second part of the ritual, and see if anything comes of it," I said.

I gave Elena the crystal and had her trace a line down her body from head to groin, connecting the four different areas. 

"There's nothing magical about the crystal," I told her. "It just gives you something to focus on. You could use an olive if you wanted."

We did some quick breathing and visualization exercises. (If you can't palm in some cards while someone has their eyes closed doing some visualization exercises, you're useless.)

Then we did a second round of the ritual. She cut the deck in four, shuffled it all up, etc. etc. 

And lo and behold, this time, the reds and the blacks were in perfect balance. What are the odds of that? (It's 100%.)

She smiled at me. "It's all balanced!" she said.

"Do you feel more balanced?" I asked.

She thought for a moment. "I do," she said. "What does it all mean?"

"Well," I said, "when the ritual works—like it has here— they say that it means you should be in a much better state of mind to tackle whatever the issue was that wasn't in balance. So, I know you were concerned about your new job, and those concerns still exist. But now you should be in a better mindset to deal with that issue."

She smiled at me again and began to straighten up the piles of cards with her thin finger. "Yes," she said. "This is good. This is good."

Now, I know some will say, "This is manipulative because there isn't really a 'harmony' ritual and you don't really help these people and blah, blah." Look, I get where you're coming from, but have some perspective. I'm not lying to someone about their dead grandmother talking to them or saying I can see their future or telling them I can cure their cancer or whatever. In fact, I'm not really lying to them at all about the outcome of the "ritual." The truth is, if they believe it will put them in a better mindset, it will. And if they don't believe it, it doesn't matter. That's a little loophole I've found. 

How do I know this little white lie isn't a big deal? Because, I wouldn't give a shit if you "exposed" it. If you said to someone after I did it, "You know, there isn't really any 'harmony ritual,' he just made that up to make you feel better about that concern you had." Their response would be, "Oh, that's sweet." I think it's pretty clear that you're just trying to be helpful.

I should mention that I really dislike Miraskill. And I dislike it because I don't understand why it fools anyone. The underlying "math" seems almost pre-school in nature to me. And that's why I don't like the trick. Not because I think the effect is awful, I'm just confused why people are fooled by it. It would be like if there was a trick to vanish an ice cube in the microwave. And you'd be like, "That's not a trick, that's obvious." But somehow it was a classic that fooled people. That's what I don't like about it.

On top of that, I'm not a huge fan of the structure of the routine. It's usually done in two phases which is kind of unsatisfying (usually one or three phases is more structurally pleasing). And often the phases are essentially identical. Which, again, isn't really great routining. 

I realize the presentation given above isn't going to appeal to all of you. But for me, and my performance situations, it's damn near perfect. It solves the structural issues I have with the original, shifts the focus off me, and makes the trick 1000 times more personal. Thanks again to N.R., for sending me in this direction. And if you don't like it, you can wackle all you wanna, you can wackle while I walk away

away

away

awayyyyyyy!

Dear Jerxy: The Unmoved, Part One

Dear Jerxy: Recently I've been getting a lot of mileage out of Dear Penthouse Forum [Ed. Note: This is a story deck trick from The Jerx, Volume 1] but there are three people that I regularly interact with who all said the same thing to me afterwards: that even though they handled the deck, I forced them to shuffle it exactly how I wanted, like that's a perfectly normal thing that magicians can do and their wonder sort of ends there. I don't mind them coming to the explanation that I can control every card that they shuffle, but I would hope they would just dismiss that as crazy. Apparently it's not so crazy.

I've had a similar thing with Seth Raphael's Amaze, where, despite being in another room, I've had the same people say that I made them pick a particular maze. They said it flippantly, like it was obvious. When I pressed them for answers I got "that's just what magicians do, they get inside your head and force you to do things." 

I know this is pretty much the Non-Explanation [Ed. Note: See this post for a discussion of the "Non-Explanation"] but it feels a bit different. "It's just a trick" is pretty similar to "magicians can do that sort of stuff," but they're not dismissing it as a trick, they're assuming I (and all magicians) have some ability that I don't have, and I don't want that. It feels like they just assume magicians can do anything. 

So, regarding "you're a magician you can make me do anything," (which is not an attitude I've actively tried to foster, nor one I would necessarily expect from educated, intelligent people, maybe they've watched too much Derren Brown) is this a barrier you've experienced or had any luck breaking down?

Signed,
Helpless in Halifax

Dear Helpless: First, let me say, I don't have a solution for this, but I do have some thoughts on it. 

I think the reaction you describe here is definitely related to the "non-explanation" I've talked about in the past (see the definition here). And it may be closer than you realize. "I don't know how you did it, but obviously it's a trick," and, "I don't know how you did it, but magicians have ways of doing these things," are essentially the same thing. The first is probably something you hear more with a physical magic trick, the second with a mental effect. And even if they're not the same, I think they're both symptoms of the same issues. 

The question is, what is going on when you have a good trick, the person you perform for is interested in the trick, the person is fooled by the trick, but they don't really react to the trick? We all understand why a bad trick might not get a good reaction, but why does it sometimes happen with a strong trick that fooled them?

There are two angles we need to look at this from. I'm going to look at the first issue now and the second in a future post. 

The first thing we need to look at is your audience.

Audience

I'm not sure what the actual breakdown is, but in my experience about 15% of people are truly undiscriminating about magic. They'll be into watching almost any kind of trick even if it's not that impressive or well done. 70% of people are not magic "fanatics" in that way, but they'll enjoy a good trick presented competently with an interesting premise. And the final 15% just can't let themselves get into magic on any level. They are The Unmoved. They may find certain aspects of your presentation interesting or funny, but when it comes to being moved by the "magic" of the trick, they're just not open to it. For these people, it's not a question of the quality of your effect/presentation, it's just not in their nature to allow themselves to be swept up in the experience. And, in fact, often the stronger the trick, the more they'll shut down.

Let's say you do a really good coin vanish. 85% of the world (the "reactors") will respond with "wow" or "that's awesome" or whatever. 15% (the Unmoved) will say, "Oh... it's just a trick." Both groups saw the same thing. Both groups had the same thought in their head: "He made it look like the coin vanished." The first group sees that as something to appreciate, but the second group's response seems to suggest that it's something to be dismissed if the coin didn't actually vanish.

I can't say I understand the psychology of the Unmoved. Maybe at some point in time they did truly "believe" in some trick they saw and they felt burned when they found out it was fake. Or maybe in a more general sense someone had them believing in something that wasn't true and they felt taken by the experience. Maybe they find a way to undermine anything someone does. If you were playing guitar maybe they'd say, "Yeah, but you didn't write that song." 

How do I deal with these people? I'll give some tips below, but in general I just don't perform for them.

What I consider to be one of the most useful posts I've ever written on this site—and one I reference often—is this one about my process of building up to immersive effects with people. By going through this type of progression, I'm able to weed out the Unmoved early on. And I never end up wasting a big, immersive trick on them.

Here is a truth to keep in mind that I've learned from all the performing I've done in recent years. Take this in, it will save you a lot of time and energy: If a person doesn't like a good trick, they will not like a great trick either.

If you do something that is objectively good, and they don't respond positively, don't think you can win them over with something better. You're just giving them more of something they're not into. If you meet someone who doesn't react positively to a good 1-minute shoulder rub, it's not because what they really want is an hour-long full-body massage, it's because they're just not into that type of interaction.

Is it possible to change the Unmoved?

Yes, sometimes, but it's not an effort I make. I have enough people who are enthusiastic aobut what I'm doing that I don't pursue the Unmoved. I treat them like cats. If they come to me I'll pet them, but I don't chase after them.

Again, the progression I linked to above (in the Bedrock: Outer Game post) is designed to work with magic fans as well as non-fans. If anything will coax the Unmoved into getting onboard, it will be that. 

When you start with the Peek Backstage style—when you say, "Can I get your thoughts on this trick I'm working on?"—you eliminate the response of, "That's just a trick" or "Mentalists just have a way to make you do that." It just wouldn't make sense in that context. If someone asked you to tell them if their drawing was realistic enough to pass as a photograph, it wouldn't make sense for you to respond, "Hey, that's not a photograph, it's a drawing!"

Moving into the Engagement Ceremony style allows you to shift focus off yourself and model the reaction you're looking for from your spectator. If, at this point, I get the sense the person doesn't appreciate magic, or at least the style of magic I want to perform, I just won't perform for them anymore.

If you do feel the need to try to "change" someone's response, one thing I've seen work in the past is to perform for someone who isn't into what you do along with someone who is really into what you do. Sometimes the fanatic can "infect" the Unmoved with their positive reaction to the magic. 

Sometimes though, the issue is not the audience. If, for example, they usually react very positively to your effects but for some reason they don't connect to certain tricks that you know should in theory be very strong, then there is something else going on. That is something I call The TIT. And I'll cover that in my next post on the subject.

Gardyloo #63

Oliver Meech, who knows a good plot when he sees one, wrote in with some thoughts on the phrenology presentation I've written about in the past couple of weeks. 

Your phrenology concept got me thinking back to my psychology degree. Apparently, there is indeed some localisation of brain function (though sadly only internally), but the borders between different parts of the brain aren't clearly defined, and vary from person to person. This means that when surgeons do brain surgery, they often keep the patient conscious. That way, they can ask them questions to make sure that if they're removing part of the brain (e.g. to treat severe epilepsy), then they know they're not accidentally removing something vital, like the language part.

Ok, enough neuro-nerding, how does this link to magic?

Well, rather than the pressing of bumps being binary (i.e. press = special ability, no press = no special ability) you could try pressing a few different areas of their head, to 'hone in' on the right area. They resulting special ability could then slowly appear.

For example, say you're doing Out of this World. You can have them try dealing 10 cards to separate the colours, turn the packets over, and they're just randomly mixed. 

Next, you prod different parts of their head, slowly moving from position to position, until you "feel you're getting close - let's check".

They try dealing another 10 cards and this time they get 8 out of 10 right.

Finally, you subtly adjust where you're pressing to find the 'bullseye', they deal another 10 and get them all right.

Method-wise, I'd probably use A New World, but I'm sure other methods would work too.

As before, you say that the effects are short-lived, remove your hands, and if they try to deal again then it's back to random luck.

TMS

As another approach, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (Wikipedia intro here) could be interesting, as it involves using strong magnets to temporarily interrupt normal brain function. Given how many people believed the popping-corn-with-mobile-phones video, and articles about mobiles 'cooking your brain', people might go for a presentation involving holding mobiles next to specific places on people's heads. Maybe with a pseudo-memory-loss trick, like Banachek's or Sankey's.

---

What follow is another card-coding system. This idea was submitted to me by JM Beckers. As I said in Wednesday's post, I think this is probably more interesting than it is usable at this point in time. At least it is for me it is, as it requires more calculating than I'd want to do on the fly. I don't trust myself to pull it off. But for some people it might come natural.

So I may be posting this more because of my interest in codes than my interest in using it in an effect, but it could definitely evolve into something. In fact you can use the basic structure of this to code anything (not just cards). And that's because you're not coding a card directly, you're using its number in a memorized stack to deconstruct the question you ask. So if you had a memorized list of anything you could use the same general format.

Here's how it works. The question is asked in this form:

"([Nothing]/Please) choose (a/one/any) ([Nothing]/poker/playing) card ([Nothing]/for me/for us.)"

I'll write out the steps, almost like it's a computer program.

Step 1. If the stack number is 27 or above, say "Please."

Step 2. Say "choose."

Step 3. If the stack number is 26 or below, that is your "working number." If the stack number is 27 or above, subtract 27 from the stack number and that is your "working number."

Step 4. Think how many times the number 9 fits into your working number. 

If 0 - say "a"
If 1 - say "one"
If 2 - say "any"

Step 5. Cast out the nines from your working number. The remainder is your new working number. For example, if your working number was 13, you'd cast out a 9. And the remainder, 4, is your new working number.

Step 6. Think how many times the number 3 fits into your new working number. 

If 0 - say nothing
If 1 - say "poker"
If 2 - say "playing"

Step 7. Say "card"

Step 8. Cast out the threes from your working number. The remainder is your new working number. For example, if your working number was 4, you'd cast out a single 3. And the remainder, one, is your new working number.

Step 9. Think how many times the number 1 fits into your new working number. 

If 0 - say nothing
If 1 - say "for me."
If 2 - say "for us."

So here's an example of the mental calculations. Let's say the spectator selects the Queen of Diamonds. That's 47 in your stack. You'll say, "Please," because it's over 27. You'll subtract 27 to get a working number of 20. Nine goes into 20 twice, so you'll say "any." The remainder is 2. Three doesn't go into 2 at all, so you won't say anything. The remainder is still two. The number 1 goes into that twice, so you'll say, "for us."

"Please choose any card for us."

Some other examples:

Stack number 1: "Choose a card for me."
Stack number 15: "Choose one playing card."
Stack number 27: "Please choose a card."
Stack number 35: "Please choose a playing card for us."
Stack number 52: "Please choose any playing card for me."

I think that's correct. Actually, just the act of writing this entry has cemented the system about 60% in my brain, so I'm sure if you put in the effort it wouldn't be that hard. The only thing I'm not 100% sold on is using the phrase "poker card." As that's not really a common phrase in English. I might swap the word "poker" for something else.

---

I'm thinking of having a new contest with a $100,000 prize. The contest is called, When Will the Magic Cafe Redesign Their Site? Whoever guesses the date will win the prize. I know that's a lot of money, but it doesn't really matter because I will be 1000 years dead in the ground before they redesign that site. It's been essentially unchanged for over 15 years. 

I was reminded of this the other week because one of the features that the Cafe still uses to this day showed up as the #1 post on the nostalgia subreddit. NOSTALGIA, Steve Brooks!

Actually, Steve probably understands better than I that if they update/redesign that site one iota, the spazzoids who occupy that site will flip out and start complaining. So he's probably wise not to.

---

What the F? Is this what you guys want? I feel like I'm really missing the mark here with the stuff I'm writing about. 

I mean, I don't want to commit to changing the format/content of the site permanently unless everyone is on board. I know, let's do six months of dust allergy posts and then see how we're all feeling about where things are at. Then will make the final decision after that. 

The Connor/Combs/Jerx Code

Today's post is another iteration of the card code first mentioned in this post. This was something I was originally thinking about in regards to using with a Google Home or similar device. But it could also just be used with another person as well. In fact, if that person was on the other end of the phone, they wouldn't even have to have the code memorized. They could just be working off a cheat-sheet. Then you could do a very fair version of "The Wizard" phone effect, where the "wizard" could be on a speaker phone or skype or whatever the whole time, and there is no secret talking needed.

I find coding a card interesting to think about. Normally, I don't feel the need to "crowd source" methods on this site. Not because I think the methods I come up with are brilliant, but just because I know they're good enough for my purposes. But when it comes to ways to code a card, I think this is the sort of thing where a lot of minds expending a little thought on the subject may be better than one mind expending a lot of thought on it. Over time, we can probably make incremental improvements and refinements to the idea to the point where we have the simplest and strongest method possible. Even if we don't reach that goal, I still find it an interesting topic to consider and work on.

This idea is a variation and—to my mind—a simplification of the code that I originally published from Brian Villa Connor. It keeps the best parts of Brian's code, but makes other parts of it more intuitive. And it has the benefit that it includes the jokers and the advertising card. That's good because if you throw a deck of cards on the table that includes the advertising cards and you ask someone to select any card, there is a good chance they'll take the advertising card thinking they're being clever.

This system comes from Chris Combs with some minor changes from me, just in regards to some language used. If it seems complicated, you just need to read it a couple more times. It's pretty simple. I'm not someone who is great at learning/remembering these sorts of things, but I think you could learn it in about 12 minutes. (There are only 12 "pieces" to the code and they're easy to remember.)

The Connor/Combs/Jerx Code

So, remember, the goal here is to ask Google Home (or another type of virtual assistant) or another human to name a playing card, and in the asking we are coding the card we want them to respond. 

In this system we will break down the values into three groups of five. Those groups are

Group 1. A-5
Group 2. 6-10
Group 3. Jack, Queen, King, Joker, Advertising Card

The code follows this format:

"Hey Google, [code suit] [code group] [code position in group]."

That assumes you're talking to Google, of course. If instead you're talking to your friend Todd, it would start, "Hey Todd." Or, "Hey Dipshit," because, let's be honest, Todd's a dipshit.

For this example we'll assume we're coding the Queen of Hearts.

Coding the Suit

This is the same suit coding from Brian's code mentioned in the previous post.

Spades - "Please" 
Hearts - "I'd like you to"
Clubs - "Can you"
Diamonds - "I want you to"

The mnemonics for this, as mentioned in the previous post are:

• "Can you" = Clubs > Both start with C
• "Please" = Spades > Both have the P and S sound
• "I'd like you to" = Hearts > When you "like" something online, you often click a heart.
• "I want you to" = Diamonds > You want money (you greedy bitch).

So at this point the code for the QH would be:

"Hey Google, I'd like you to [code group] [code position in group]."

Coding the Group

The groups are easy to remember, as I indicated above. Group 1: A-5. Group 2: 6-10 Group 3: J,Q,K,Joker, Ad Card

The coding for these groups comes in the form of asking for assistance. 

Group 1 (A-5) - [Say Nothing]
Group 2 (6-10) - "help me and"
Group 3 (J, Q, K, Joker, Ad) - "do me a favor and"

There's no real mnemonic for this, but there are just two phrases to know: "help me" and "do me a favor." The coding is correlated to the length of the phrase. For group one you say nothing. Group two is the shorter phrase. And group three is the longer phrase.

So, now for the Queen of hearts we have:

"Hey Google, I'd like you to do me a favor and [code position in group]."

Coding Position in Group

Each group has 5 cards, and so we need to code which position that card is in. This is pretty easy. For group 1, each value corresponds to its position, that is to say, if the card is a 2, then it's in the second position. For group 2, you just subtract 5 to find the position. So a value of 8 would have a position of three. And for group 3, the positions are fairly intuitive as well: Jack=1, Queen=2, King=3, Joker=4, Ad Card=5.

The coding of the position comes when we ask Google to select a card. This might seem like 5 random phrases to memorize, but there's a pretty easy mnemonic for it.

Position 1 - "pick a card."
Position 2 - "choose a card."
Position 3 - "think of a card."
Position 4 - "name a card."
Position 5 - "select a card."

Mnemonics:

Position 1 - Pick a card - "Pick a card (any card)" being the primary (#1) phrase associated with card magic.

Position 2 - Choose a card. - Choose and Two have the same vowel sound.

Position 3 - Think of a card. - Think and Three both start with TH.

Position 4 - Name a card. - "Name" has four letters.

Position 5 - Select a card. - There isn't really a mnemonic for this. But "select" has the most syllables and it's the final option. It's not hard to remember.

Going back to our example, a queen is going to be position 2. So our complete code phrase is:

"Hey Google, I'd like you to do me a favor and choose a card."

Other Examples:

Here are the codes for five random cards. (Well, sort of random, I just used the 28th-32nd cards in Mnemonica stack because they provide a good mix of suits and high/low values).

Three of Hearts: "I'd like you to think of a card."
Eight of Diamonds: "I want you to help me and think of a card."
Five of Clubs: "Can you select a card?"
King of Spades: "Please do me a favor and think of a card."
Jack of Diamonds: "I want you to do me a favor and pick a card."

As I said, I think this code is relatively easy to learn and that the phrasing seems very natural, for the most part. 

You don't need to have the code ready instantaneously. Let's say you spread a marked-deck face down on the table in a big mess. (Face down because all decks are marked decks when they're face up.) Someone selects a card and pulls it towards them. You see it's the Six of Spades. You turn away and ask them to put it in their pocket without looking. Then you ask them to gather up all the cards, square them, and put the deck in the box. From a truly scattered deck this could easily take 20-30 seconds. Maybe more. During this time your back is turned and you're just building the code in your head starting with the suit.

Internal Monologue: Okay, it's a spade, so I start by saying "please." It's a 6 so it's in the second group, so that would be "Please, help me and...." And it's the first position. First equals "pick." So it would be "Please, help me and pick a card." 

As I mentioned above, if you have further simplifications, I'm happy to add more slashes and attributions to the name of this code. Or if you have something that looks at the coding issue from an entirely different angle, I'd be interested in hearing it. (In Friday's post I'll be offering another code that I think is probably more interesting than this one, but less usable. However, with some thought perhaps we can make it more so.)

Show Swapper

This idea has a bit of a long history. Three years ago I wrote about a one-time-only performance piece I helped out with in a post called The Talent Swap. Then, about a year ago, friend of the site, Anthony Lisa wrote me with an idea that was partially inspired by that post. I liked his idea, but it wasn't really full formed and it was a stage trick, so I didn't end up doing anything with the idea. But it did get me thinking of The Talent Swap again, and if there was a way to do it more regularly as opposed to just a one-time special occasion thing. And from there I came up with a version that you can do much more often and that will be in the next book. What's written up here is a theoretical stage version of the close-up version that's in the book. Got it? I don't care. Moving on.

If you wanted to do what follows there are a lot of blanks you would need to fill in. This is a concept, not a fully fleshed out routine. I've written it up as a full routine, but that's just to give things some context.

This goes back to last week’s posts about the Spectator as Magician plot. For a lot of performers, the rationale behind the plot is: I’m going to give you my powers briefly. I don’t love that as a presentation, but maybe it makes sense for a formal show, because formal shows ARE about the performer, there’s really no way around that. So “I’m going to give you the power” may be as decent a premise as any other. The only real issue I have with it is when it’s paired with a sentiment of, “You can do this because your mind is powerful and can do anything!” Which is it? Are you working through me? Or is my mind so powerful it can do anything? Pick one. Those are very different concepts.

Anyway, the idea here is to make it not just a Spectator as Magician plot, but also something of a Magician as Spectator plot. Because you’re not just giving him your power, your are swapping powers for a brief moment. 

Here’s how it might look.

“I’m a delicate man who is afraid of hard work, and I’ve been slaving away up here for just shy of 20 minutes already, so I’m going to take a brief respite for a while and let you all take over the entertainment. While you were in the lobby, before the show, some of my team members asked you to write a talent you have on a piece of paper. I have those papers in this bag and we’re going to have a little talent show.” 

The house lights are brought up, the bag (clear forcing bag) is shaken up and three slips of paper are removed from it by a randomly selected spectator. The slips are opened one at a time and the person whose name and talent is on the slip is asked to demonstrate their talent. So maybe one says, I can sing opera, and that person sings a few bars. The next says, I can fit my fist in my mouth, and that person does so. The last slip chosen says, I can recite dirty limericks in Russian, and that person demonstrates that talent. 

You ask the person who removed the first three slips to remove one more. “We’re going to do something a little different with this one. Whoever’s talent this is is not going to demonstrate this that talent… I am.”

“You see, I only really have one talent: extra sensory perception [or however you define your powers on stage]. Other than that, I’m kind of useless. I can’t carry a tune. I can’t cook. I’m a terrible lover. I played one game of soccer in fourth grade and they had to call 911 to cut me out of the net.”

“But I’ve found something in my research. It’s an old ritual that will allow me to briefly swap my talents with someone. And whatever slip you just chose is the one we’re going to use.”

You pull out some other slips to briefly show what could have been picked. Play guitar. Do a handstand push-up. Deep throat a 14-inch cock. 

“Good god! I’m glad that’s not the one that was picked. But… come see me after the show,” you say, pocketing that slip.

“Okay, please open the slip you chose. Whose is it?”

“Tommy P,” the audience member says.

“Okay, Tommy P., can you stand up?”

A man in the audience stands up. 

“And what does it say Tommy’s talent is?’

The person who picked the slip says, “Breakdancing.”

You slump over, resting your palms on your knees and mumble, “Aw, fuck me. Seriously?”

You quickly shift back to performance mode. “Ok. No. That’s fine. Tommy, come down and join me on stage.” 

Tommy joins you on stage.

“Tommy, here’s what’s going to happen. In a moment we’re going to do a little ritual. After that—if things work out right—I should be able to absorb your talent, and you should be able to absorb mine. So I will be able to breakdance, and you’ll have extra sensory perception.”

“Now, obviously, it won’t be difficult to discern if I can breakdance. But demonstrating your ESP might be harder. So, here’s what I’ve done. I’ve written down the password I use for all my online activities on a long scroll of paper, rolled it up, and placed it in that clear chest hanging from the ceiling. The moment I start breakdancing, I want you to open your mind and let some information come to you. My password is a word and a number. That’s the only hint I’ll give you. It might be a long or short word, it might be a long or short number. Don’t try to think of it now. Wait for the swap to happen.”

You then go through the ritual, whatever that may be. Think of movies where people swap bodies. Maybe you both blow out candles and wish at the the same time, or maybe you pee into the same bucket. You can come up with whatever ritual you want. 

You direct Tommy to stand on the opposite side of the stage from you. “Now we wait,” you say.

“Actually, could someone in the booth give me a little beat?”

After a few moments some hip-hop starts to play in the theater. “Okay… yeah… das dope, das dope.” You suddenly jump forward and do some stilted, awful hip-hop dancing.

“Uhm… nope… not yet, I guess.” You say and embarrassedly take a couple steps back.

After another false start or two you slowly walk forward…, “Wait… I think it’s coming,” you say. And just like that, the beat drops and you begin to breakdance in a fairly impressive manner. 

After a few moments, while you’re spinning on your back or doing the worm or whatever, you start to yell over the music. “Tommy, what’s the word? What word comes to your mind.”

Tommy stutters out, “Cement.”

“And the number, Tommy?

He says 22.

After another moment your impressive dancing sputters back into a middle-aged white-guy shuffle. 

“It’s gone. It’s over,” you say. "Damn... I want to be cool again," you say, dejectedly.

You gather yourself together.

“Ok, now Tommy, don’t let me put words in your mouth. I want to make sure I heard correctly. What word did you get?…Cement? And the number?… Okay, so Cement22 is the password you got.”

The clear chest is lowered, the scroll removed and unravelled to reveal “Cement22.”

---

Obviously this is a use for some sort a prediction chest. But, for me, this is so much more interesting than "say some words and I'll show I predicted them." Even if I try to put myself in a true layman's mind—having never seen a prediction chest routine before—that type of routine is such a basic bitch usage of that prop.

Whenever possible, I want to get away from presentations that are 98% boring bullshit set-up with 2% interesting surprise at the end. With magic, and especially mentalism, this can be a huge weakness.

With this routine you have the interesting/fun talent show portion, followed by the intriguing premise, the odd ritual, the humorous part where you're wildly inadequate at the talent, the potentially surprising part where you're suddenly decent at what appears to be a randomly chosen talent, and then at the end, the magic punch to the routine.

---

Of course, you don't need to do this with a prediction chest. Any "spectator as magician/mentalist" effect could likely be routined to fit in this structure.

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Logistically, how might this be done...

Well, first you need to learn to do a few different skills with some aptitude. It's up to you how many you want to do. Ideally you'd want to learn some skills that many people might possess, but perhaps ones that might not look like they'd come naturally to you. If you're a big, manly white dude, then maybe breakdancing, playing the flute, speaking French, and doing a split or something.

Now, you'll need to have someone in the audience each night who has one of the skills you've learned and who writes that skill down on their slip. How? The easiest way would be, of course, to just use a stooge. Then you wouldn't even have to use a gimmicked prediction chest, they would just name what's already in there. Of course that's not very satisfying, and I personally feel like I can always tell when someone is a plant. (Of course, maybe I can't, maybe I just spot the bad ones.) 

I remember before I saw Derren Brown in NYC and people were waiting in the lobby, some of the crew members came out to ask us some questions and have our pictures taken. That's kind of how I imagine this playing out. The crew goes out before with little slips of paper and explains that during the show there will be a brief portion where people will present skills or talents they have as part of a larger demonstration. "Do you have any special skills or talents?" If the person doesn't immediately offer up something they can continue, "Like maybe you can dance, or play an instrument, speak another language, or have some athletic skill? Or anything at all." All subjects that could lead them to one of the skills you've worked on.

With an audience of, say, 80 people, I feel like you're bound to find someone you can steer into putting down one of the talents you learned. 

But why would the stage-crew be involved if you were doing this for real? Isn't that suspicious? Why not just have people write down their response and put it in the bag.

I don't think it's suspicious. The stage crew needs to track down instruments or other items they might have backstage to be used during the demonstration, so they'd need to know what types of things people are writing down (in theory).

Alternatively, this could be a question people are asked online when they purchase their ticket. "During one portion of the show members of the audience will be asked to demonstrate a skill or talent they have for a few seconds. Is there a skill/talent you can demonstrate? If so, please indicate that below along with any necessary items required to demonstrate this skill." 

Now, in this case you'd have some warning of what's to come. So you may have a week or a month to prepare. That would obviously make things easier and more sure-fire. 

---

How good do you need to get at this skill?

You just need to look like you have this skill for a few moments. Can you learn to play the flute well over the course of a few 45 minute rehearsals? No. But you can learn to play a few bars of a not-too-complicated but not-too-basic melody on a flute in that time. That's enough.

---

Speaking another language might not be visually interesting as a "swapped skill" but it could be funny. If French was the language, you could sit there twiddling your thumbs. "Uhm... baguette...Gerard Depardieu...uhm... cheese? I don't know... I don't think this is--" Suddenly you jump out of your chair and start speaking quickly and gesturing wildly, "Je ne viens pas vous occuper ici, quoi qu'on en puisse dire, de l'intérêt de quelques individus ni du mien; c'est la cause publique qui est l'unique objet de toute cette contestation: gardez-vous de penser que les destinées du peuple soient attachées à quelques hommes; gardez-vous de redouter le choc des opinions, et les orages des discussions politiques, qui ne sont que les douleurs de l'enfantement de la Liberté."

---

For this to work, the audience must believe the participant is not a stooge or a plant. If they don't believe that, then both parts of the routine will fall flat. This is maybe a lot to hang on a clear forcing bag, but I think it can work. The person who ends up pulling the names from the clear forcing bag must be chosen randomly in some way (throwing something into the audience, etc.) If the audience believes that person is fair, then they are more likely to believe the selection is fair. 

And because they see different talents coming out of the bag both before and after the talent to be swapped comes out, I think it's pretty convincing that this is a "random" selection.

---

Something to consider, if the talent is, for example, playing the flute, then maybe there are two flutes on stage. But one is rigged in some way so that it doesn't play. So when you start playing your flute you have her pick hers up and she blows and nothing comes out, implying her talent has really been sucked out from her. If there was some sort of switch of the instrument so it seemed to be one she had just played moments before, that would be even stronger.

But this is probably all just overkill.

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This final idea comes from the routine Anthony Lisa sent me that inspired this version. While you're doing the talent you've absorbed, a stage-hand comes out and takes a Polaroid picture. Then, when the audience leaves the theater, they walk past a wall with a bunch of Polaroids with you doing all these different talents: ollying on a skateboard, doing a one-armed handstand, playing a banjo, balancing a step ladder on your face. Or whatever. The implication is that these are all talents you "absorbed" briefly in previous performances. In reality it's a bunch of photoshopped pictures made to look like Polaroids.

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You know who this is ideal for? Someone on America's Got Talent, or something like that. You already have a number of other people with "talents" sharing a stage with you that evening. When one is "randomly" selected by one of the judges and you swap talents with them, that would, I think, make for a pretty great segment. It seems like an effect that makes sense for that environment, rather than something that was shoe-horned in. Let me know when someone steals the idea because I wont' be watching.

(To be fair, I have no clue what people want to see on any of these "Got Talent" shows. I occasionally see a segment that people are passing around like it's great and it strikes me as some grade-A hokey horseshit.)

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This may have been a lot of words to spend on a trick almost none of you will do. But I still think it's a interesting idea to think about, and I know at least one person will run with it. (I've only put a handful of stage ideas out in my work, but with every stage idea I've mentioned, at least one person has written me to say they're using it.) And there may be be pieces of the idea that you take away. Or maybe it's just inspirational literature, a thought experiment of a way to use a standard prop in a different way.

If you are like me and you don't perform professionally on a stage, the close-up "social" version which can be done one-on-one, is detailed in the upcoming book.  

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And while we're tangentially on the subject... here's one of my favorite breakdancing videos. Well, part breakdancing, part yoga. 

Gardyloo #62

Regarding Tuesday's phrenology post, this doesn't have to be used for the Spectator as Magician plot. You could very well have the chart out and use it on yourself as a way to get into a trick. As an Imp it's very versatile. 

Actually, the strongest version may be to sit there, pressing on your head like a weirdo and examining the chart, then you do a trick where you read their mind. Then you kind of shake your head and blink hard a couple of times. "Whoa, that's a weird feeling," you say. And then you ask, "Do you want to try?" They won't be expecting that. They will, likely, think you were just messing around, but then when you suggest they can do it to, that should be very intriguing And when when it ends up working, that should be even more powerful.

That's a nice flow for a casual performance: You're doing something odd which gets their attention, you follow that up with a decent trick. They feel they have an understanding of the nature of this interaction and then you ratchet it up a notch by suggesting that not only were you serious about the phrenology stuff, but they can actually experience it themselves. That's strong structure.

It would be as if you were 12-years old and it was Christmas Eve and your dad walked by while you were sitting in the living room. He seems to notice something through the window and he goes over to look outside. He's staring out the window into the sky. "Holy cow! I think I see Santa!" He freaks out a bit and starts jumping around with excitement. You're 12, you don't believe in Santa, you get that he's doing a bit. But then he says, "Come over here and look." That's the same as the moment where you say, "Do you want to try?" with the phrenology presentation. Both phrases seemingly take the "bit" one step past what's possible if reality is what they assume it to be. And that's where you're really going to capture their imagination, especially if you can follow up on the promise that there's more going on here than they originally thought.

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Back in 2015, when this site first went the way of being "reader supported," I offered anyone who purchased the first book a "Friends of the Jerx" post where I would write about whatever they wanted. That offer has long since expired, but I'm going to reinstate it for one long-time supporter, Cleo Ferris Lunt who has a short story in an anthology publication from her school's creative writing course. It's $3 for the ebook and the money goes to charity. On top of that, I thought the story was pretty good and memorable too.

Check it out here.

And if you have a $3 product with the proceeds going to charity, I'll reinstate your "Friends of the Jerx" post opportunity too. Otherwise you'll pay my standard advertising rate ($14,000) and you'll like it, you little pay-pig. (I'm a financial dom.)

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I like Mickael Chatelain's material a lot. It's super clever and the secrets are fun. However, if you ever wanted an image that encapsulates how arbitrary and un-awe-inspiring and meaningless a lot of close-up magic is, it might be this one.

Yes, finally you can do a trick that calls to mind the primal imagery and the universal story that appears across cultures: the story of the one card folded around another card with a hole in it and a straw going through the hole.

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Here is something I used to do pretty regularly as part of an Open Travelers/Invisible Palm Aces routine. I didn't really have a set place to do it. I would do it as a lead-in to the routine, or a follow-up from the routine, or as part of the routine itself for the final ace.

The idea is this. You talk about being able to absorb the cards into the flesh of your hand. You have a card palmed in your right hand, and with that hand you point at your left palm and say that there is a card in that palm right now. You extend your left hand and have someone touch it to see if they can feel the card. While this is going on, you backpalm the card in your right hand down at your side. 

Then you turn to the right and bring your right hand back into the picture palm up and touch your left palm with your right thumb as you make some comment about finding the card under your skin. Then you turn your left palm away from the audience and curl in your right fingers and "remove" the card, apparently from the somewhere deep within your palm. 

All these words are confusing. This is what it looks like.

In real life I wouldn't do it in long sleeves as in this gif, because you don't want to give the person an easy explanation as to where the card came from.