Talkin' Turkey Updates

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Happy Thanksgiving week, Americans! (And happy end of November, rest of the world.)

Due to the holiday and then some non-magic work obligations, there won't be another update for 10 days or so. But we are inching towards another year of the site and The Jerx Monthly. If you haven't signed up and you'd like to, you can do that at this post. (Also, to reiterate, if you don't confirm your sign-up in your email then I have no idea that you exist.)

Right now, let's give thanks...

Thanks to Kainoa Harbottle. I don't like that I have to look up the spelling of his name whenever I want to type it, but I do like the incredibly thoughtful, thorough, and positive review he wrote for The Jerx, Volume One in the December issue of Genii. 

For those of you who came to this because of that review, I should note this site is currently on hiatus, but you have more than enough to keep you occupied for quite a while.

Thanks to Steve Bryant for giving this site a shout-out in this month's Little Egypt Magic.

Steve's site is the granddaddy of magic blogs, starting at a time before blogs existed. It's always worth checking out his monthly write-ups.

Thanks to the State of Nevada for putting Las Vegas magician and hyper-creep Jan Rouven behind bars for possessing 9000 videos of child pornography. Jan, whose full name is Jan Rouven Fuechtener—one of those surnames that is based on your interests or occupation, apparently, as he was always looking to Fuech someone ten er under—is going to be sentenced March 16th.

My sentencing will take place now: Rot in hell and you're kicked out of the GLOMM.

Speaking of The GLOMM, thanks to those of you who joined up this year as GLOMM Elites. You should see the 10% Peek in your email sometime today. This is a 10-page ebook describing the introductory effect that I use when performing something for someone new (and there's a deck of cards around). It's a straightforward revelation of a peeked card, but one that does a particularly good job of disguising the fact that you ever look at the deck at all. If you don't receive your copy today, get in touch.

Speaking of ebooks, a few people have requested I make available the X-Communication newsletters as an ebook. By no means do I think this is an essential manuscript for your magic library, but I just went back and re-read some of it for the first time and it's pretty damn fun. And I do get that if you're an ardent fan of something, you want access to as much of it as possible. So I'm making them available.

X-Communication was my year-long monthly review newsletter that was sent to people who purchased The Jerx, Volume One way, way, way back in October of 2015. The newsletter contained dozens of reviews and a good amount of theory, ideas, and presentations as well. Imagine if Michael Close lost half his brain in a botched suicide attempt and then went back to writing reviews for MAGIC magazine. That's kind of what it's like. 

This 104 page ebook collects all 12 issues under one cover. The price is $24. (There's nothing new here content-wise if you already received the newsletters.) The link to order is here.

Hmmmm...

I'm just coming to the realization that in the past year I wrote a 350 page book, a 50 page book, a 104 page book, and, like 250 posts on this site. What a colossal waste of time!

Some housekeeping things. There is a new tab in the menu for The Jerx Shop. This is just a simplified way of keeping everything that's available in one place for Jerx completists and others who want to support the site.

Remember, Christmas is coming up. What better way to say, "I love you," than with a gift from the Jerx. 

Concerned your wife won't be on board with you buying The Jerx, Volume One? Buy it for her instead. When she opens it on Christmas day and is like, "What is this? A magic book? Why would you buy me this?" Get all offended, take it back and say, "Wow, what an ungrateful animal you are. Fine. I guess I'll keep it and I'll read it. If that's what you'd prefer. My god... what have you become?"

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody! Enjoy your turkey and your Old Gold cigarettes. I'll catch back up with you soon.

Percent of Funding Pledged for Season 2

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder?

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(or is it "Out of Sight, Out of Mind"?)

My little sweeties, I miss you. Have you all been enjoying the internet since I've been away? It's really been a true delight, hasn't it? Lots of smart people rationally discussing interesting ideas in a calm fashion. 

Your update in regards to Season 2 is this: we're still in a similar place to where we were last time I wrote. The pledged support for another year of the site and for The Jerx magazine is right around 90%. 

A number of people have written to offer alternative ideas to fund another year of the site. I appreciate your enthusiasm and your suggestions, but you have to keep something in mind—there are not 1000s of supporters of this site. There are not even 100s of supporters. We're measuring supporters in the dozens. And that's a good thing, because I like to view my engagement with the people who support this site as a relationship, not a transaction. And it can only be that way with a smaller amount of people. But that small of an audience takes a lot of things off the table. Most physical products, for instance, are ridiculously expensive to get produced on a small scale, so you can't really do them.

Surely you'll come back if you're at 90-something percent, right? 

No. Here's the deal, I don't really have a negotiating gene, so when I was coming up with the number of supporters I'd need to do another year, I legitimately just put the lowest amount I could do it for. 

The good news, for people who like the site, I can almost assure you it will come back again someday. We're very close now, but this last 10% may take a matter of weeks or a few months. And if it doesn't happen after that point you'll still be getting a gift from me in your email, just for being cool enough to offer your support. 

The sign-up to join me for season 2 and get the Jerx Monthly and the Jerx deck is below somewhere.

If you have the Jerx App and you're not doing at least the memory loss effect, you're absolutely missing out. It's one of the most mind-fuckiest things you can do. Especially if you have someone record it on their phone and especially especially if you use the Light Lunch convincer. The fun part is coming up with ways to apparently affect their memory. I sometimes do a faux hypnotism bit, but it can be fun to just make up something on the spot. For example, last night I used "peer pressure" to affect the spec's memory. 

Another fun bit to do is to set it up as per the instructions, except instead of a sun and bird use a moon and a UFO. Then "erase" the UFO from her mind via a flash of a lighter or your phone's flashlight.

GLOMM elites! Below is the cover of the ebook you'll be receiving next Monday describing the card peek mentioned in this post. It's not a new technique so much as it is a choreography that I feel is the most invisible peek in a one-on-one situation (it can be used in any situation, I just mean that I feel it's most invisible to the person whose mind you're reading).

If you don't get it at that time and you're a GLOMM elite, drop me a line and let me know.

Until next time.

Season Two Status

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See details on Season Two and The Jerx Monthly and sign up if you're interested at the post below. I will update this chart from time to time when it's warranted.

For those who have asked via email when I think the site will return, I genuinely don't know. I think most of the people who are into this site have already signed up, so what remains will trickle in over time, probably as new people find the site.  It could be a while. You have to realize that the number of people who are interested in looking at the pursuit of magic from this perspective is tiny. While this site has a good sized readership for a site of this nature, it's mostly casual fans. I'd put the passionate fans at about 12%. 

But why would anyone expect it to be any higher? A site about magic that has an underlying ethos of taking the focus off the performer? It barely makes sense when you consider the reason most people get into magic. It would be like having a blog of vegan recipes where I promoted the vegan lifestyle so that we could be healthy enough to chase down animals on foot and slit their throats. 

I've been putting the additional time I've had from this hiatus to good use. First, I've been refining some routines that I'm pretty excited about. And second, I've been working on some test layouts for The Jerx Monthly, which will be the pdf magazine of reviews and tricks/ideas that will go to the people who sign on to sponsor year two. My stylistic inspiration for the magazine is not Genii or MAGIC or any classic magic magazine. It's actually an old magazine called Secrets. It may not influence all the content, but at the very least I'm thinking of doing the covers and maybe a feature article in this style.

Coming Soon!

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(possibly, or coming eventually, or coming never)

The Jerx, Season Two: Young Reckless Hearts

The Jerx Monthly

The Jerx Premium Playing Cards

My original funding plan for season two of The Jerx was to offer no bonuses and just let the people who wanted to support give and—if there were enough of them—I would keep going with the site.

I've had a change of heart after discussing this plan with a friend of mine who reminded me, "Andy, you don't like the people who freeload off the site. Why would you offer them the same experience as those who support it?"

And yeah! He's right! I hate those bums!

I had been caught up with the idea that to provide "bonuses" would require more time, and time is the commodity I don't have. 

Then I realized the stupidly simple solution to the issue. Instead of offering 5 posts a week on this site, I will hold back my favorite post or two each week and instead include that in a new project The Jerx Monthly.

What is the Jerx Monthly? Well... it's like the Jerx... but... monthly.

It's going to be a PDF magazine of, probably, 20ish pages of all original material (it won't reprint anything from the blog). It will be the best of the tricks that had been slotted for season two of this site, plus the sorts of new product reviews I had done in X-Communication, plus the Jerx Centerfold.

This is, I think, a better deal for everyone. It's certainly better for me because it allows me more flexibility. Instead of five posts a week on this site, there will be three posts a week, and then four reviews and four tricks/essays in the magazine. It's the same amount of content but now the best content is being saved for supporters of the site. 

Why not just put it all in a magazine? Well, because some stuff is more appropriate for a blog and some stuff is more timeless and makes more sense as a magazine article.

In addition, those who keep their monthly donation active throughout year two will receive the limited edition Jerx Deck. This is an idea I've had for a couple years. It does one really stupid thing that is funny to me. You'll see.

So here are the perks for Jerx Season Two supporters

  • The knowledge that you're keeping this site going. And my appreciation for your support. (Value: $6.00) 
  • A subscription to The Jerx Monthly - 240 pages of original content over the course of the year.
  • The first Jerx Deck. A hyper limited-edition deck of playing cards. The cost of the deck and shipping are covered in the $10/month donation.
  • This may not mean anything but you'll have priority email contact with me. I'll white-list your email address. One of the big timesinks of this site is the time spent going back and forth over email. I genuinely enjoy communicating with people about the site, but it sucks up a huge amount of time. So now only supporter's emails will come through immediately. Everything else will go to a folder that I'll check every week or so as time permits.  

So when does this start? 

Well, it's not definitely going to happen. Here's the situation. If and when we reach 100% funding, this site will start back up and the Jerx Monthly will start arriving soon after. I will update the chart below that shows the funding percentage on a regular basis.

(If you signed up but didn't respond to the verification email, I have no idea that you signed up so make sure to check your email and confirm your subscription to the list of supporters.)

And let me say a huge and genuine thanks to those of you who signed up to support season 2 at a time when you were offered nothing more for your support beyond the continuation of the site itself. That's truly appreciated. 

If you haven't signed up yet and you're interested in another year of this site and the bonuses that come with funding season 2, sign up below. Thanks.

I'm in for $10/month to support season 2, subscribe to The Jerx Monthly, and receive the Jerx Deck

* indicates required

 

 

 

Peruggia

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This is a variation on Larry Becker's Sneak Thief routine which I was introduced to via Andy Nyman's Magician's Graphology effect. 

I'm going to dance around some of the details of the method, but that's because I don't see this site as a place for beginners to learn methods. I'm writing for magicians with a pretty healthy understanding of magic techniques and what I write below will either be clear to you, or it will set you off in the right direction to track down further work on it. 

The Sneak Thief effect is this: You hand out four business cards (in this handling) and ask four people to draw something on a card while your back is turned. The cards are mixed up face-down. You take them back and turn them over one-by-one and you're able to identify who drew each picture. With the last picture (since it's obvious who drew it) you instead reproduce that picture without ever having looked at it (apparently).

The peek in Sneak Thief is one of my favorites. It's bold but you'll never get caught doing it.

However, I've found there to be a fairly significant issue with the Sneak Thief routine. While you won't get caught during the moment you peek the final drawing, there is nothing to add to the spectator's conviction that you didn't just peek the drawing at some other point while you were handling the cards. Magicians and mentalists get caught up in the success of the peek. "They didn't call me out on looking at the drawing when I was doing it right in front of them!" But just because people don't catch you doing the peek in the moment, that doesn't mean they don't assume that's how you did it.

Peruggia is the Sneak Thief routine perfected for close-up. The conviction level that you never saw the final drawing at any point is incredibly high because that drawing never leaves the spectator's hands.

Here's the method. You hand out four business cards that are marked in some way, nail-nicks, pencil-dots, whatever. You just need to know whose is whose when they're returned to you. 

You turn away or leave the room and ask everyone to draw a simple picture on the back of their cards. You then ask one person to gather up all the pictures and mix them drawing side down so no one knows which is which.

You turn around or return to the table and tell the spectator to give the cards one last mix and deal three of them into your palm up right hand (or whatever your dominant hand is). Ask them to place the last card on their right hand (you demonstrate with your cards that they should place it the long way, along the palm). You want to be opposite of the person who ends up holding onto the last card.

You now turn over the top card of your stack and you display the drawing to everyone to look at. During this time you will get your peek of the bottom drawing, as per the original Sneak Thief routine. Because of the markings you will know who this first drawing belongs to. Do your psychic reading of the person who drew it, or get your psychological impression or whatever the case may be. Then finish by identifying the person who drew it. 

At some point during this process you need to move the bottom card to the center of the pack. This is not a secret sleight, just something that happens as you're holding the cards. Don't even look or pay attention to it. If someone notices it, you're just absent-mindedly mixing the cards.

You now hold the stack of drawings at your right fingertips. The first drawing you looked at is facing up, the other two are face down beneath it. You are now going to do a variation on John Bannon's Assisted Switch with the card the spectator still holds. This is a more advanced version, but you're free to do it as Bannon describes it in Smoke and Mirrors if you're more comfortable that way. (You just have to justify how they hold the cards in that one.)

Essentially what you're going to do is the second step of an Elmsley count, but into their hand.

Here it is broken down step by step.

1. You bring both your hands towards the spectator.

2. You say, "I'm going to have you take this card too."

3. Your left hand takes her right hand and pulls it gently and slightly towards you. Your fingers are below her hand and your thumb is on top, pressing down on the left side of the face-down business card and raising the right side a little bit.

4. You apparently thumb off the picture you just looked at into her hand, but actually you execute the Assisted Switch. Your left thumb levers up the right side of the card which will give you the maneuverability you need.

Here's what that all looks like. (I'm demonstrating with playing cards for clarity, but it's actually easier with business cards, as long as your business cards will slide against each other.)

Believe it or not, it's not that much more difficult to do this switch than it is to do the beginning of an Elmsley count without the spectator's hand under the card.

At this point you may or may not want to ask the spectator to sandwich the cards between her hand, "so no one can get to them." Or whatever. 

So you've switched in a drawing that they don't even know you've seen yet, for one that was in their hand from the start, without it ever seemingly having left their hand. You are incredibly far ahead. In fact, you're done, method-wise.

Reveal who drew the other two drawings. And after you do each one, place it cleanly between the spectator's hands with the other cards.

Now you can reveal the last person's drawing directly, but that's not how I do it. I want to both exceed their expectations and justify why I gave back all the drawings to the one person, so here's what I do.

I say, "Obviously, that last drawing between her hands is yours [indicating whoever drew it]. So let's try something a little different." I turn away and ask them to turn all the drawings face down and mix them all up and place them in a row on the table. 

I turn back, take the hand of the person who did the last drawing and move it back and forth along the row of business cards. I know which one is hers because of the markings and after a few moments I lower her hand flat onto one drawing and place my hand on top of hers so she can't lift it. Then I quickly turn over the other three drawings showing that I was able to locate hers. This no-stakes Russian Roulette actually gets a decent reaction and seems like the end of the trick. 

I say to her, "You're the only one who knows what's on the other side of this card beneath our hands, correct?" I look to the other participants to get their agreement. Then I look to the person who held the cards during the first section of the effect. "You don't even know what's on the other side, and you had it between your hands the whole time." (This assumes the person whose drawing it is isn't the person who was holding the cards earlier.)

Then I just finish by describing the drawing in a manner that's in keeping with whatever presentation I was using earlier in the effect. 

[UPDATE: You know, I thought there'd be a decent chance someone had a similar idea to this before, but when I researched the Assisted Switch, I didn't find any reference to using it in this type of effect (or even using it for anything other than playing cards, which surprised me). But, I've been informed Joshua Quinn mentioned the idea of using it with billets a few years ago on Mystery Performers, which is one of those fancy magic message boards that vets you before you join, so I'd probably never qualify for membership. After Joshua's post, Mike Ince suggests perhaps using it for a Sneak Thief type routine. While the idea is only mentioned in passing, I'm sure if either of them had fleshed it out they would have ended up with something quite similar to what I wrote up above. So credit to Joshua and Mike, along with Larry Becker, Andy Nyman, and John Bannon for this. And thanks to Jack Shalom for informing me of this credit.]

Callbacks

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Here are some updates to a couple favorite effects from earlier this year. 

In Search of Lost Time

ISOLT is a handling for the Invisible Deck that is less about the effect of the ID, and more about using it as evidence for a lost period of time while your spectator is, apparently, "hypnotized."

That original post has three versions of the effect. This is a variation of Version Two: In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower.

Here's how it works. You need an Invisible Deck. You're talking with your friend about one of the weirdest methods you've ever heard for a magic trick. "The interesting thing is there really is no method. It's based on these tests they were doing at Stanford University."

You then show them the video at this link (which is also embedded below). 

The video shows a woman undergoing a hypnotic induction. You don't need to watch the whole thing straight through. You can jump ahead, but just make sure the spectator understands what's going on.

Watch the beginning of the video, up until the woman starts the mental journey down the staircase. 

Jump forward to about 1:30. The experimenter is telling her a card to think of. A card she should name if ever asked for a "random" card. You say, "See, look what he's doing here. He's telling her what card to name in the future."

The experimenter tells her she will forget these instructions on a conscious level. Then he "wakes" her, asks her to name a "random" card and shows her that card has been reversed in the deck before they started. You narrate along with what's happening so it's clear to your spectator. 

"So he's just told her what card to name, but she doesn't remember any of this. So this is the first time she's hearing about a card as far as she knows. Now she's seeing this as some kind of card trick, but really she's just naming the card he told her to name."

"It's one of the strangest methods I've ever heard of. It doesn't use sleight-of-hand or psychology to predict what she'll name. You just tell them what to say and then make them forget you told them. Voila! Can I try it with you? Not with the four of hearts, but some other card."

Once they agree, have them lower their hand and close their eyes, like in the video.

"In a moment I'm going to relax you more completely."

[Pause 5 seconds.]

"You are fully awake. Open your eyes."

I find it helps to place your hand on their shoulder or something to make it clear it's "over" because, from their perspective (i.e., reality) you haven't started yet.

"Do you remember?" you ask with a smile. "No? Okay, okay. Let's try it out. Go ahead. Name a random playing card."

They won't believe you at first, of course. They'll think you're just fucking around. It's when you show them the card they freely named is the one that is reversed in the deck that they really begin to question what the hell really happened. 

Bookmark the video URL on your phone and you have a really strange 8 minute experience for someone whenever you have your invisible deck.

In, A Big Concept and a Little Idea, the "Little Idea" was a universal meta-presentation for Tenyo tricks. This idea has developed a bit of a following and I hear from a lot of people who have been using it or something similar. I understand why it's (relatively) popular. It leverages the "weakness" of the toy-ish-ness of Tenyo effects into a strength, but it does so in a much more interesting way then just saying it was the first trick you ever got, or something like that. (I find people want to be fooled by the first magic trick you got as much as they want to be stumped by the first math problem you ever attempted. Which is to say, not at all.)

Working through the trick with the spectator, and being fooled with the spectator is a particularly enjoyable magical experience for everyone involved, I've found.

In this file you will find a pdf to print off instruction cards for the trick Crystal Cleaver. Print them on the Avery business card sheets, front and back. These sheets are made so you can pop the cards out when you're done printing. It's fun. Pop pop pop.

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Some things to remember:

1. This is supposed to be your first time seeing this stuff, so act like it. Don't be too familiar with it.

2. The instructions are intentionally not overly-clear. Look to your spectator to help you figure things out. "Crystal box?" you say. "I guess they mean this one, right? That would make this one the 'mystery box.' I guess."

3. If you want to use the spectator's ring, just don't include the other ring in with your package. The imperfect English of the instructions allow for the idea that you're supposed to use either a borrowed ring or the ring that's included with the effect.

4. If you really want to play up the weird backstory, when you're done with trick say, "We have to go take this and throw it off a bridge or I won't get next year's package."

I's Gots Talent

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If anyone is going on America's Got Talent next year, here's a routine for you to use on your first appearance.

Your introductory video plays. You're overweight, your hair is a mess, you have thick glasses. A blotted cranberry sauce stain runs across your shirt. 

"My parents always said I'm a dreamer," you say in voice-over. "I know I'm not a hollywood pretty-boy fancy-guy. But don't judge a book by its cover." Your words are slurred. Not like a drunk, but like someone who was kicked in the head by a donkey.

We see a clip of you stumbling down the sidewalk, waving to an elderly woman on her porch. "Hi, Miss Lucy!" Under your left arm is a picture of a dog, and in your left hand is a small urn. 

Again in voice-over: "I carry my dog Roscoe everywhere I go. If you look up 'friend' in the dictionary, you'll find old Roscoe. He died in 2012 and I'm still putting the pieces back together. And I think part of that journey means finally following my dream."

You step out on stage. You exchange some uncomfortable small-talk with Simon. Your shirt has a couple more stains on it. You set the urn and the picture of Roscoe on the floor. "So what is this dream you want to follow?" Simon asks.

"I want to sing opera," you say.

The crowd titters. Simon gives a look to the other judges. There's a close-up of a girl in the crowd covering her laughter and pointing at you. Inspirational orchestra music swells in the background. "Yeah, I get it," you say. "I know I may not look the part. Maybe you think I'm a dreamer, like my parents do. But the one thing you have to remember is this..."

The orchestral soundtrack hits a crescendo, then falls away to silence.

"In the end... dreams come true," you say. Some in the audience applaud. Howie and Simon glance at each other as if to say, "Let's see what the kid's got."

The entire theater falls silent as you step up to the mic and begin to sing. It comes out like this:

In quick succession, three of the judges give you the red X. The last holdout, Heidi Klum, gives you the X once it's clear you've changed the words to the second verse to suggest that you were masturbating in the tub.

Nick Cannon joins you on stage. "Is that good or bad?" you ask. "Did I win. I won?" you scream, your eyes getting big.

"No, no," Nick says. "You've been eliminated."

"Eliminated through to the next round?"

"What? No." Nick says. "Your journey is over."

"Oh... I see. I see. Simon, can I ask you a question? And don't pull any punches. How would you describe my performance in one word."

"In one word?" Simon asks. "Ghastly."

"Fair enough. Fair enough. I get it. I'm not Mr. Handsome. I'm not some... Carson Daly or something so I'm not good enough for the show. This is so predictable. Who X'd me first? Who did it? Who was so threatened by me?"

"I did," Simon says.

"Right, you couldn't handle it. Mr. Big Shot is afraid of my star power. And then you were next, right, Mel B? Because you just follow what Simon does. Then Howie. And then, last of all, Heidi. Ok. Cool. Cool cool cool. So predictable," you say in disgust.

"So predictable."

"In fact," your slurring stops and your voice transforms to adopt a refined British accent, "I predicted it all earlier today."

You unzip your fat suit and step out of it wearing tuxedo pants and a dress shirt. Nick Cannon hands you your jacket. You remove your glasses and pull off your grungy wig to reveal a slicked back head of hair. And then you peel off your fake bushy mustache, uncovering a tight well-groomed mustache underneath. You straighten your ascot. The audience is flipping their shit.

You're the picture of sophistication. You look like the guy from the cover of the John Booth book, "Extending Magic Beyond Credibility."

Nick puts his hand on yours before you can light your cigarette. "We can't smoke here?" you ask, incredulously.

"As I was saying, so predictable. First Simon, then Mel, then Howie, then Heidi. Please, lift your Dunkin' Donuts cups and show the cameras what's underneath."

Under each cup is a number 1-4, with each person holding the number of the position in which they eliminated you.

The audience applauds this unexpected effect. 

"Not only that," you say, unbuttoning your right cuff and rolling up your sleeve. "Simon, you could have described my performance in any one of a thousand different ways, but you chose one word in particular." You pick up the dog's urn from the ground, dump some ashes into your left hand, then smear them along your right forearm. A word appears in ash:

GHASTLY

The audience roars. Simon turns to Mel B and mouths a big, "Wow!"

Nick Cannon quiets the crowd. "Okay judges. Now that you've seen the complete act, have you changed your mind about sending him through to the next round?" The judges convene and you are sent through unanimously.

The crowd cheers. Nick asks you if you have anything left to say.

"Not really," you say. "I already said it earlier. In the end, dreams come true."

The place goes wild for your hacky platitude. Music swells.