Hello There!

Two months of not posting... such a dick move of mine! I'm such an asshole...!

Now that I got that out of the way; How are you guys? I've been busy. The development for the new show is done (the main reason for me not posting btw) and the show is in rehearsing stage. 24th of April is the first show.

How many card tricks do you do compared to the many you know? My guess is that you do about 2-3 per show of a standing repertoire of 5-6 out of a pool of about 40 card tricks. If that is the case raise your hand.

To all of the others... Stop buying card tricks!

Check out this 99 cent trick being sold on T11's Wire!...



well more of a technique in a project that has been years in the making. At least according to the 20-year-old creator John Bendewald. Is this supposed to be a convincing Second Deal? It doesn't even look like the top card is being taken at all. The fingers don't even give an indication they they are supposed to take the top card. The right hand thumb goes clearly under the top card which has weirdly been angled off from the deck.

If it sounds like I'm being over analytical, that is because I am. The Second Deal is one of those techniques, that if you do it well you can do it under scrutiny. If you suck at it, (like me) you better need a good reality outside of the move misdirecting from the move.

For instance. You just made the four aces appear by changing a single card into the four aces. The reality is different. Only three aces are there but thanks to Alex Elmsley it looks like four. But you planned ahead the missing ace is on top of the deck.
      So you drop the four card packet on the deck and then deal them out. The fourth card is the X card and the fifth card the last ace. So I can deal out three aces regularly giving me enough cover to do the one Second Deal.

Also the main idea has been done better before. Check out Card College and hell, even The Expert at the Card Table will do!

The magic bar!

René Lavand has died. The Magic world is in imminent peril to dropping the bar he's raised. We have lost another great one. Also Dean Dill. What a tragic weekend for magic kind. Both were respectable performers and have pushed the magic art. One more so than the other.

But now that the bar has been lowered again, this is totally acceptable again:



Help Us!!!

Happy New Year

I got an email.... "Hey cocksucker, have you died?"

The simple answer: Yes, yes I have. I saw a light at the end of the tunnel, then Hades said "Καλημέρα!". Naturally I didn't get that. But he showed me around. I saw the pool area, the beer volcano and the true Magic Castle. Dai Vernon sat in the corner as usual ranting about magicians. Larry Jennings was drunk and his palm flashed.

I was confused. Hades showed me more. I wondered why Hades had red skin and horns on his head. Eventually we went past a picturesque mountainside. There was a giant gap in the side of the mountain. From that gap screams were heard. I demanded to see what was going on there. Hades hesitated and showed me anyway. Burning people being drowned in acid.... I looked at Hades. He shrug his shoulders. "I don't know..." he said "...these are catholics, they want it that way."

Then I woke up and it was 2015. Holy Shit.

The last few month of 2014 were busy, really busy for me, so blogging took a back seat.

So what is the news?

Dean Dill needs money for cancer treatment. That sucks. Both that he has cancer and that he needs money to treat it. The later would be unheard of here in Germany, where we have public health care. Still don't know why so many Americans are against it.

But there are countries where you are worse off being a magician.

Apparently a magician got beheaded by ISIS, you know that wacky little interest group with the mental stability of a three-year-old. I don't know if this is true, "The Mirror" has a bad report card when it comes to the validity of their articles. They even shoehorned Dynamo into the article leading to a possible misinterpretation, that maybe Dynamo was involved. I cannot tell if it was intentional or not.

Speaking of Dynamo...

...he has now found his way to the penguin lecture crowd. Dan Harlan who hosted that event must have been amused how this likable man shows off his pathetic card skill. Nothing shows more of his dilettantism than a live performance. Turning his unbelievable TV shit into a farce and showing the true hypocrisy.

I think 2015 has a lot to offer.

Simple Design

Maybe this is something for certain magicians... I'm not judging. There was a time in my magic life where I would have loved that thing. What thing? This thing: The Gothic Chop Cup by the Big Bild Media

Do you see the design flaw? Since this is a Chop Cup, it means that the cup itself will be upside down most of the time. So why is the skull design on the cup not upside down as well?

Here, I used my mad photoshop skillz to fix this:

Doesn't it look better? How is this overlook in the design phase of a product?

The same hold true for most paddles which have an image on the paddle. Like this one!

The Social Deck by Soma

I do not consider the "Social Deck" by Soma a fail, however I would consider this a misguided effort. But first to all of those who do not know what the "Social Deck" is, it is a set of printed gaffed cards, that revolve around Facebook. Here is the trailer:



When I heard of this a while ago, my intital thought was different from what is shown in the trailer. Since the main things about social networks are about following, sharing and making friends, I thought maybe the tricks that are offered with the project would be going in that direction.

Maybe a card trick that leads to people following you on Facebook, Twitter or whatever. Or a card trick that invites people to share this, by allowing them to record the performance on their phone, then uploading it to their Facebook account. Or card tricks that are so personal, that they are the perfect icebreaker to get to know more of you. Stuff like that.

But instead we get this! A gaffed deck that you can use, using a bunch of double lifts and some color changes. I guess it makes sense from a business point of view. To get suckers to believe they have the next great, up-to-date thing, while counting their money. However I still feel that in the long run magicians would be helped more by offering them a project that I have outlines above.

Here is an example, that is not even cards. Ask the guy to get out his mobile phone and to set it up to record a short video. Then do Paperballs over the head with the camera and the guy holding it. Then allow him to upload the video to any social media and then to link to your profile on said media.

Wanna know if a manipulation act is good?

If so, what's wrong with you....

But if you still wanna know: Turn off the sound! If the act still holds your interest that means either the act is good or you're really a nerd.

Quickchanging

When I was a kid I saw a quick change artist. I don't know who. But I remember part of the act. He had some costume, then went behind a curtain and then had something different. I thought it was a real skill. Like a really skilled person, that is able to pull off his clothing and then get dressed. Part of the illusion was the speed. BECAUSE HE WAS NOT FAST AT ALL. It took 8-9 seconds.

I really believed the skill, because it took longer than an instant. Now compare that with today's way of doing it. Now it is obvious that it is a trick. No real skill involved.

So some of you have Blogs!

But for what reason? Let me direct your attention to this: BLOG RIGHT HERE! You see the headline? "Magical Charity Event Blog by Carl Royle exceeding all expectations."

To me this looks like a google friendly headline. It has the name, the theme and the result. So if I google Carl Royle what do I get? So it seems the blog functions more like an advertisement.

I may be wrong, but the thought comes up.

Layman Mode Activated

I suggest you try it regularly, when seeing magic. Turn on your layman mode! What is that you ask? Well simply forget all you know about actual methods and magic. All you know about it comes from movies and what others tell you.

Then look at this:



and perhaps this:



Did you get it? If you are smart it means you got it. If you are a dumb retard let me spell it out for you.

IT'S IN THE SLEEVES!

Let's switch into magician mode. Of course it is not in the sleeves. The method is different in each case, but switching back to layman mode: Of course it is in the sleeves. Why else are they down. If he wouldn't put it in the sleeves, the sleeves would be all the way up to show that the sleeves are not used.

Be on time!

This is more of a general rant, but it applies to magicians as well. Why can't be people on time? Seriously. Always there is a delay.

Let's back up a bit. I've been to many appointments in my life. Some I set up, some have been set up by others. I tend to be punctual. Really punctual. It's kind of my thing. However it seems to be not the thing of the majority of people. In certain situation this is of little consequence. Like meeting up with friends. No big deal, you just wait 5 more minutes until the other one arrives. But in some situations arriving on time is crucial. Neither because everything would come to a grinding halt if one is not on time, nor because people are forced to wait. No it is because people think less of you and you come across as extremely unprofessional.

Magic related example. Two magicians were booked to this pretty big corporate gig. Walk around magic. I was one of the two. I was on time. I spoke to the manager who explained what he wanted and all of usual. My "co-worker" whom I've never met until that point wasn't there during the meeting. He was stuck in traffic, according to his story.

It made even me look unprofessional, as it made magicians look unprofessional.

Well stuck in traffic, that can happen to anyone I hear you say? Yes! That is why you take that into consideration when you make up your schedule and leave earlier.

He finally arrived, just in the nick of time, as the event was about to begin. So I briefed that magician. I watched him work (that little time that I had) and he was really good. Really good. He put me to shame. Yet the follow up gig - and there always is a follow up gig - I was booked instead of him. I wonder why! My fee wasn't lower than his.

I guess this constant struggle with time comes from the inability to assume the correct duration of any given action while planning.

Crossing the street, just to the next stop light, then passing the street and going into the bakery. I actually measured the time it takes me to do that. Amazing 60 seconds, what seems like a 10 second thing. I actually asked a few of my friends what they assume the time would be for the same thing. And they all said half a minute or so. They were off by 50%....

I sound like a freaking obsessive freak here. In a way I am. But if such a simple task as crossing the street is grossly misjudged, then how much of a discrepancy happens when planning a trip to a gig and arriving at an agreed upon time?

If you struggle with being on time I have a tip. Estimate how much time you need, then add 50%. If you think the trip will take an hour, then it will take 90 minutes.

Rant over.

Deflect by Skulkor

Skulkor has releases Deflect. I saw the trailer. My initial thought: "What the hell is that thing? Bullshit!" and I thought I was done with it.



Turns out the WPR gives that a high rating. My second thought: "Well it's WPR, both guys are magicians who have no concept of good magic!" and I thought I was done with it.

At the Green Monster "This looks awesome.", "This has me curious."

Are you guys retarded or what? This is shit. Seriously! Try to follow my train of thought! So you have a card box and a marker. Alright, so write something on the box? Really? How the hell do these objects relate to one another? Not at all!

The effect (something written changes) is good in itself, as the effect could lend to meaningful magic. But no, it is yet another card thing. This has no reason to be. Why not write the gibberish on a business card and then change that to the correct prediction? Oh yeah, because of the method. That doesn't fucking matter. So let me give you the inner monologue the magician has to go through:

"So you picked a card, let me write down the name of your card. Let's see, what could I possibly use as a surface to write on? Oh yeah, this box of cards is great. How about writing it on the narrow side, so it is only visible for just a few people? Yeah that's great. It's not like I got the option of writing on the bigger side of the box, or on some cards, or business cards, or not at all."

Can you see it now? Probably not, because you are retarded. You got Skulkor-Syndrome. Let me explain. When you see a trick and you are fooled, you instantly think it is great and good and the second coming of Dai Vernon. If it uses props you already use you come instantly and spurt your magic sauce all over the Internet, by posting stuff like "I ordered it and it shipped". The cause for Skulkor-Syndrome is kinda unknown. Research suggests, that not being a worker will cause it.

Let me get serious for a moment: I don't see this going into the repertoire of working magicians. They can do stronger stuff and more logical stuff without even breaking a sweat. Since whatever the gibberish turns into is forced anyway, you can actually prepare some business cards and have them stacked in your stock of business cards.

So here is a possible trick, just to get this post a bit more on the constructive side. Draw animals on the back of some of your business cards. Common animals that are likely to be named. Have them in a known order on the bottom of the stock. The bottom card is a "general animal".

Get out business cards. Show the top few and don't make a big deal of it. Turn the stock around so the backside is towards yourself. Ask a few to think of an animal. Pretend to read their minds and pretend to draw. Put the business card with the "general animal" on the table or a spectators hand with the drawing side down. Have the animal named, and instantly cull the correct one to the bottom of the stack you are holding. Ask them to turn over the prediction. Let the gag play out and then take back the card "I'm not a great artist, but I am right, I swear!" place the card on the bottom of the stack and you are basically ready for any double lift based change. And you have a business card to hand out.

The Naked Magicians

So you know this producer of the Illusionists? His name is Simon Painter... he has been working on just one more show. The name of the act: "The Naked Magicians". The two magicians starring in this production are Mike Tyler and Christopher Wayne. The later one is no newcomer to this blog. Actually the later one has the website http://www.gospelmagic.com.au/... GOSPELMAGIC.... Seems a bit weird that he is now doing a naked act.

I guess the idea of the act is that they somehow never fully show you the goods. That's the gag. And I'm sure that is a great gag for a certain target audience if Simon Painter had decided to rape another form of art and not magic.

But first, let me treat you with this:


Feeling distracted? Did you notice there was some magic in that little routine? Probably not. You were too confused! And that is what is happening to everyone watching the video. It isn't about magic, magic is just a tool. A side gag if you want to. And that makes me sick.

I'll give you an example to make my point more clear. Let's say you are a comedian. You are a good comedian. You have shows all around the country. It took hard work to get there. You learned about comedy, you took lots of falls, but you always got up. You know how goes.

And then suddenly a fucking idiot gets successful with really cheap stock jokes. Some jokes he didn't come up with. But the audience doesn't notice, as he undresses during his act. Having the right target audience makes this guy an instant hit. You would be pissed. You worked hard on your act. And just adding a gimmick makes this guy successful.

Luckily the act with the naked magicians has not yet had it's premiere. Let's really hope the act fails.

Hey Boys and Girls

Do you want to come across as socially awkward? As someone who has trouble figuring out the line between what is okay to do and what is not okay to do?

If so, become a magician.... no wait, even better... become a Street Magician. I'm not talking about busking, which is time honored and requires you to be alert and to manage people. No! I mean Street Magic, the kind that David Blaine made popular.

Strangers on the street love nothing more than being stopped by a young person with a deck of cards in his/her hand. "Hey, I'm a magician, and would you love to see a card trick? If you don't I will either run amok or commit suicide. Whatever!"

So the stranger, who is just a friend you haven't met, thinks long and hard about the things you're about to do and figures that a card trick is probably the least horrific scenario. Probably!

Card tricks it is then. You do some crazy flourishes... of course not as fast at in those YouTube videos you watched, and then ask somebody to pick a card. After that graceful display of skill the stranger surely thinks that you are not capable of finding the card, after it has been lost in the deck. So you do your perfect pass and pull out the two jokers from the pocket. "Look three jokers. One on my right, one on my left and one in the middle." Those two jokers then trap the selection in between then. "OMG you must be a wizard." is the what the stranger says after careful consideration as what to say. The stranger's initial thoughts on how to respond where: "So what? You found my card. My uncle Jeff does a similar trick with 21 cards" and "What a pitiful little creature attempting to be one of the grown ups, I should say something that doesn't offend the magician, and something that can be understood as something positive." So "OMG you must be a wizard" is the final response.

If you are getting that particular dismissive reaction you are on your way. Optional choices would be: "That was wonderful!", "I have no idea how you did that", "You should be on TV", "Not bad for your age", "I wish I was that good with my hands", "No fucking way man"

But if you really want to know if your magic is good: Give them a show and ask for money. Busking tells you where you are.

Extra points if one of your tricks involves an iPhone.

This really needs to stop

Having learnt magic the classic way I can say I'm happy with that. It has taught me the value of books. It has taught me that a throw away idea can be included in a book. Maybe a few sentences briefly outlining the idea. But with a clear statement that it is just an idea and that the author is giving it out, so somebody more talented is able to turn that idea into a full routine. Basically it is the author admitting, in a very nice way, that he is not as talented as he hoped. Being humble and all.

And then times changed and those throw away ideas become a five minutes endurance marathon with the most pretentious of all characters.

Is this magic?

What is this? Really? Have I gone so far off the common ground that I cannot tell what magic is supposed to look like?  I ranted about the McBride phenomenon several times, but this is new. During an urban techno party this might be cool. But in every other case this is insulting magic.

Self Leviation by Shim Lim, Jose Morales and Paul Harris

Are they really trying to sell the Balducci? Really? And who? Shim "I don't fake my magic demos" Lim, Jose "I know a two handed cut where you have to blow on the cards" Morales and Paul "I put my used to be good name on every shitty product" Harris.

If this is serious I should release a DVD about the key card principle. I didn't come up with it, but I would make money doing so.

Cash grabbing parasites!

Jay, read this!

I'm sorry to ride this train for so long, but I found this comment on Youtube by Jay Sankey, and it's worst piece of bullshit I ever read:

"The so-called 'secrets of magic' are not the real secrets. It's what a performer DOES WITH the 'secret method' that makes him or her a real magician. In the early days of cinema, the techniques were mysterious and kept secret. Over time, the value of those 'secrets' diminished and people focused on what they DID with the tech. Hopefully, the same thing will happen with magic."

You Jay Sankey are gravely mistaken! Here is why: Magic has one huge problem with the suspension of disbelief issue. Movies are a different beast and cannot be compared with magic. In movies or theater the audience is willing to suspend their disbelief, if the movie is good. The audience is willing, to accept for the duration of the movie that all the issues and problems of the characters are real. If in a theater play of Peter Pan the main character is flying, you can see the wires that he is hanging on. But the audience is willing to not see the wires. They know the wires are there, they see them, but they choose to ignore them, in order to continue being enchanted. Kind of how religion works.

In magic it is different. If something floats through the air, people will look for threads or wires. It has something to do with the too perfect theory, postulated by Rick Johnsson. In his initial paragraphs he states that the audience cannot stand not having an answer for a problem that is presented to them. And that they will find a solution, even if the solution is clearly wrong. So if they catch a glimpse of a piece of flying dust above the floating object they will think they saw a thread.

The intuitive solution can actually be disastrous in trying to establish any illusion. So that needs to be cancelled. If people know what an Elmsley count looks like they will see the Elmsley count each and every time no matter what the "performer DOES WITH the 'secret method'" even if no Elmsley count is used.

And that is the main reason why magic secrets should be kept secret. Your analogy about cinema is fucking nonsense. 

You Jay are doing a huge disservice to magic. The art that you love, the art that made you a name in the business. Please don't make the mistake assuming you know all about it, therefore you can rise above the time honored rules of magic.

Keeping a secret is hard, but it is smart to do it from a business point of view as well as from an artistic point of view.

While the boxes are rolling in

What's up with all the dancing. Seriously, I wanna know. Why dancing?

I understand the need to fluff up a illusion show in order to hide the fact how little material there really is. But there are so many other options. Like juggling, singing, comedy, some feat of skill, a cool story, a laser show, poetry, martial arts or a music performance.

My theory: The assistants are dancers. And they only agreed to work in the illusionist's show if they can show off their stuff as well.
But my theory falls apart, when seeing that singing is often fluffed up by dancing as well.

Opinions?

Dear Comedy Magicians

How about actually being funny!

Thanks to Youtube I have seen plenty of them. And I learned something. Stocklines are apparently enough to call yourself comedy magician.

So here is a test. If you take away all your magic from your act, would you still be funny enough to stand alone. If yes, the title of Comedy magician is just. Otherwise just call yourself a magician.

Card To Pocket by Daniel Madison

I was gonna do a video rant about this, but because I'm sick and I lost my voice here you go with a written version.

The culprit: The new trailer for the card to pocket routine by Daniel Madison. Without further undue, here is the trailer.


Breath in and out, in and out. And repeat after me. This trailer is so flawed, so amazingly flawed. It could possibly be the worst magic trailer of all time.

Here are some points:

1. Madison says that this is usually the only card effect he ever performs! Really, so all of his other releases are rubbish? Way to start a trailer by indirectly down talking your own "achievements" in the past.

2. Could they possibly pick a worse spectator? The first lady looks like a whore of the street. In fact the whole setting is dirty and unsettling. It just feels like the neighborhood you don't wanna be in. Great, sell you product by advertising it by having it sticking out a pile of shit!

3. The audience reaction s to this supposed show stopper and reputation maker is piss poor. Yes this may be a real life reaction but this has nothing to do in an advertising video.

4. The camera doesn't know where to point the focus.

5. The routine itself (that little that is show) is horribly constructed. The spectators are instructed to do weird things and they obviously have trouble deciphering the mumblings of Daniel Madison.

The problem does not come from the incompetence of the makers of the video. They clearly know how to shoot a video and how to sell magic. This is clearly a directorial decision. Sure there are plenty of worse video out there, but the badness comes from technical inabilities or from a gross misunderstanding of either magic or marketing. If this piece of trash routine is supposed to be the crowning go to routine of Daniel Madison then I clearly wonder about his state of mind.

And what is it about the look of Daniel Madison. I get the hipster influence, but this is taking it to far. He is so fucking mainstream that his inability to understand current trends shows. The whole trailer gives me the creeps. There is some unsettling disease ridden quality to it. Who the fuck is the target audience? Kids? Hardly! Young gangsters maybe!

And name dropping your own name... that is a new low. Either that or he is a Pokemon!