Updates 1/20

Everyone have fun at Magifest?

I was a little skeeved out by Josh standing outside this room, wearing a propeller beanie and little shorts, licking a giant lollipop. When I tried to get a peek in the room he pushed me away and said, “No adults allowed! This is a place for us kids to be naughty.” Uhm… okay. Sure thing, dude.

For Supporters:

• Reward packages continue to go out, they will all be sent by a week from today.

• The final newsletter for this season will arrive on the 31st.

• The digital appendix is live. Info on that was sent in an email last Thursday.

For Everyone:

• The site will return in mid-February. The exact date will come soon.

• Some people have asked about supporting for 2020. Those slots will be offered to 2019 supporters first, and any unclaimed ones will then be made available here around mid-February.
  

Updates 1/13

If you’re a supporter of the site you should have received an email on Saturday with the shipping details for your rewards package. If you don’t think you got this email, check your spam. If it’s not there, you’re probably not in the email account that associated with your paypal, which is the default where I send such emails. So check that email address too. (If you don’t find it there, email me.) I can’t send you your package until you complete the steps there, so please do so when you can.

I’m also in the process of reaching out to people who emailed me to be on the waiting list for the 2019 support package for some of the “overage” copies printed by the book printer. I’m going to work through that list chronologically until those copies are gone.

Today I want to offer you a sneak peek at The Jerx Deck #3, which will be coming in your 2019 reward package.

It’s a deck 16 years in the making.

In 2004 I wrote…

I read an effect once and the effect required you to do a bit of fishing in order to figure out which card a spectator was thinking of. At one point in the effect you had to ask, "Was it a cherry-colored card?" And I've seen people use this line at least a couple of times in my life. In the effect I was reading it said that women will most often think of red cards so this is a pretty safe line if used on a woman, and if she didn't think of a red card there is an "out." The "out" is that you say, "Well, there are black cherries." 

Now, it's one thing if you consider that a joke (I don't, because I think jokes should be funny), but is it in any way an out? An "out" implies something subtle that makes something (a prediction or a statement) that is incorrect seem correct. But there's no way that cherry-colored shit could be considered an out in my mind. Why not just do this: Someone chooses a card and you say, "Was it a red card?" If they say "no," your out is "Well, then it was a black card." That's just as clever an out as the "black cherries" thing.

In 2016 I came up with a shockingly brilliant improvement of this concept.

Just use a deck with pink and brown suits, instead of red and black.

Then, if you are an American, travel to England. If you're British, travel to America.

Then, when you need to fish for the color of the card, you say:

“You picked a fanny colored card.”

This cunningly capitalizes on the fact that Americans use “fanny” to mean butt. And in England they use it to mean berginuh.

Hold on, let me spell check that…

Sorry… vagina.

So, for example, as an American in Britain, I would say to my audience:

‘You picked a fanny colored card!’

If they say yes, then I know it’s a pink card.

If they say no, then I say. “It wasn’t a brown card?”

They’ll admit that it was and then say, “But you said it was fanny-colored.”

Then I say, “Oh, how silly of me. I forgot where I was. You know that in America ‘fanny’ refers to the butt. So I meant the card was brown, like a butthole.”

It’s simplicity itself!

But we’ve lacked the deck needed to do it correctly.

Until now…

Introducing The Jerx Deck #3.

My Favorite Music of 2019

[Brief Update: If you were a supporter of the Jerx in 2019, you will be getting an email this weekend to get your shipping fee and address. We’re ahead of schedule with the rewards packages and they should start going out sometime next week.]

As I’ve done in years prior, today I’m posting some of my favorite songs and music videos from last year.

If you haven’t seen these posts in the past, my taste in music leans towards indie-pop, rock, garage, punk, rap, and sub more obscure sub-genres. I won’t be listing a bunch of radio hits here. Any good ones you already know.

I like sharing music because I know not everyone has the time to make it a priority in their life like maybe they did when they were young. So if that’s you and our tastes overlap at all, here’s a chance for me to share some stuff you otherwise might have missed.

I purchased 90 new albums in 2019 and sampled many hundred more. Here were the songs that made an impact.

Favorite Punk Album of 2019 - Morbid Stuff by Pup (Toronto, Ontario)

Not hardcore punk, more pop-punk, but still with a bit of an edge. I love the energy of this album. And they came out with a couple of great videos as well. There was one for the song “Kids,” which is kind of like a janky episode of Black Mirror.

The video below I like even more. The concept is great. They sent out a song for people to cover before they had released the song. So they gave them the lyrics and the general chords, but nobody really knew what the song sounded like when they were covering it. The video starts off with their attempts before transitioning into the actual song.

Favorite Jangle Pop Song of 2019 - 4am by the Maureens (Utrecht, Netherlands)

Great harmonies in this one.

Favorite Dream-Pop Song of 2019 - Shangri-La by Fox Grin (Atlanta, Georgia)

This has a late 90s feel to me. It may be the video though. Pretty song (and pretty video).

Favorite Song I Would Have Put at the End of a Mix-Tape for a Chick I Liked in High School - Your Hand In Mine by The Bedside Kites (Tampa, Florida)

I feel bad for you kids who don’t get to make mix tapes and CDs anymore. That was like a major way of connecting and flirting in my day (much in the same way I’m connecting and flirting with you now). it’s not the same to send a playlist. The only time I really ever think that I’m living in a computer simulation is when I think that humans have been around for a couple hundred thousand years and it just so happened that my youth coincided with the 20 years that mix-tapes and CDs were a thing? That seems unlikely.

You didn't want to make your mix-tape all love songs, or you come across as a little needy/corny. The first song should send some kind of message and the last song should always be a sweet little number where you’re essentially saying, “This is me talking to you.”

This is the song that would have ended my 2019 mixtape if I was crushing on you in 10th grade. A simple, summery, sweet number called Your Hand In Mine.

Well I waited around
For  you to come around
And  I am thinking about
The way your hand fits in my hand

Favorite Throwback Song - Rushing the Acid Frat by Stephen Malkmus (Portland, Oregon)

If you liked the sound of Pavement in the 90s, this new song from Stephen Malkmus could have been pulled from one of those old albums.

Favorite Psychedelic Song of 2019 - Paint Euphrosyne Blue by the Lucille Furs (Chicago, Illinois)

Straight 60s style psychedelic-pop.

Favorite Depressing Tune of 2019 - Northsiders by Christian Lee Hudson (Los Angeles, California)

Favorite Power Pop Song of 20919 - A Place in the Sun by Telekinesis (Seattle, Washington)

A great song. But it’s probably my top power-pop song this year because of the video. I like watching people dance by themselves.

According to iTunes, My Most Played Song of 2019 - Blackout Control by Spendtime Palace (Costa Mesa, California)

I don’t know if this was my favorite song of the year, but it’s definitely up there. The chorus flows in a way I find very satisfying, and the video cracks me up.

Favorite Album of 2019 - Don’t You Think You’ve Had Enough? by Bleached (Los Angeles, California)

Bleached is probably in my top five current bands, and this album achieved something rare for me in that every song on it was added to my main playlist. Usually, even when I really like an album, there are a couple songs I never need to hear again and I douche them out. But with this album, everything made the cut.

Throughout their catalog of music you will hear the sounds of the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s. But they always feel vital and of this time for me.

They pumped out a bunch of videos for this album. Here are a few below.

This next song isn’t a typical rock song. It’s 2:45 worth of build-up to a 30-second, fuzzed-out payoff. And, although it’s not very ambitious, it’s a one-shot music video. Something I always enjoy. And I like how you see clues that they’re setting up for something bigger throughout the opening portion.

Other Favorite Music Videos of 2019

Museum District by Minor Poet (Richmond, Virginia)

I really like this song by Minor Poet and the video makes me laugh because—for a reason I can’t quite figure out—they’re re-making Good Will Hunting.

Vossi Bop by Stormzy (Croydon, UK) and Boasty by Wiley (London, UK)

Both of these videos were directed by Henry Scholfield. I find his use of motion really mesmerizing. Both the things on camera, and the motion of the camera itself.

Everyday by Weyes Blood (Los Angles, California)

I came to this song late in 2019 and it’s been really growing on me since I found it. It mixes a beautiful song that sounds like it could have come straight from 1970 with the esthetic of early 80s horror flicks. It’s pretty great.

Other favorites from this year:

Ex-Hex - Rainbow Shiner
White Reaper - Might Be Right
V.V. Lightbody - Car Alarm (Put it on your make-out mix.)
Holy Now - All the Time
Deep State - Time Unrivaled
Telekinesis - Cut the Quick
Holiday Ghosts - Thinking of You
that dog - Old LP (I love when rock bands try something big and orchestral. The song starts around 6:15, but you may want to watch the rest for context.)

Here’s a Spotify playlist of these songs and albums for those who get their music that way.

The Impulse of Will - How to Get Things Done

Happy New Year!

2019 was the year I became a life coach by accident. I was consulting on a project for this guy and our conversations became less professional and more personal as the project came to an end. Not personal in a, “What are you wearing and how big are your testicles?” sort of way, but just in the sense that we started talking about his broader goals and life ambitions.

I’m very pragmatic about this sort of stuff. You want to accomplish X? Okay, what are the steps to accomplish X? Okay… well… take those steps. Problem solved. For people who overthink every last dumb detail of their lives, this sort of directness is appreciated but doesn’t come naturally.

“You give good advice,” he told me. “Would you be able to work with me as a life coach?” he asked?

“No, that’s not going to happen,” I said.

“I’ll give you $500 a month for a one hour phone call, once a month, for the next 6 months.”

$500 for one hour of my time each month seemed like a pretty great deal. “Sweet,” I thought, “Once this takes off I can shit-can that stupid magic blog.” (Just kidding, I love this stupid magic blog.)

But what I realized was this… I wasn’t getting paid $500 for a one-hour phone call. I was getting paid 70 cents an hour to take on someone else’s issues for a full month. I wasn’t just taking on his concerns and questions during that one hour, they were with me all the time. Looked at that way, it didn’t seem like as good a deal.

But, I stuck to our agreement and he ended up accomplishing a personal goal in four months that he had been working on for 14 years, and he felt it was due to my assistance. I don’t know about that. I think it just helped to have someone to feel accountable towards, and to be paying that person $500/month. That probably makes you want to make it worth it.

I asked him if there was one concept we talked about that he found most helpful and what he mentioned is what I’m going to tell you now…

---

This is the type of thing that maybe won’t resonate with most of you, but it works for me and some of the people in my life.

It’s based on the notion that getting things done is easier than you think.

I’ve written four books, 12 issues of a magazine, dozens of newsletters, and 1000 or so posts in the past few years and I always hit my deadlines, even though I don’t consider myself someone who naturally has great self-control or time management skills.

You might think it takes willpower or self-discipline to do things, but I don’t think that’s true in most cases.

Resisting doing things (not eating a doughnut, not smoking crack, not spending your kid’s college fund on prostitutes or beanie babies) takes willpower and discipline.

But actually doing things is something else altogether.

Let’s imagine you need to mow your lawn. “I need to mow my lawn” you think, but it’s not something you want to do. So instead of mowing your lawn, you get online and screw around on there for a while. Then you watch some TV for a bit. Then you get back online. Then you rearrange your playing card collection. Then you watch more TV. Hours pass. It may happen that you actually don’t mow your lawn that day. But eventually, you mow your lawn.

Once you start the process of mowing the lawn, it doesn’t really take any willpower to continue. There’s not much of a chance of you stopping halfway and going back inside.

So you aren’t exerting any willpower/discipline while you’re procrastinating, and you aren’t exerting any willpower/discipline while you’re actually doing the activity.

The only time your “will” plays any role in this is in that brief moment when you decide to stop what you’re doing and go mow the lawn. It’s not an extended effort of willpower. It’s just an impulse of will that flips the switch from not doing something to doing something.

You don’t have to become a master of self-discipline, all you have to do is get better at flipping that switch with less delay. All your effort needs to be focused on just that one moment. You don’t have to worry about the full hour-long walk, you just need to flip the switch to get yourself up and put your shoes on and head out the door. You don’t need to worry about writing the whole chapter, you just need to flip the switch that gets you off the couch and on the computer writing that first sentence.

But how do you get better at flipping that switch?

You just create a magic trigger that flips the switch for you.

The trigger can be anything. it can be an action (pressing your right thumb into your left palm). It can be a word or phrase. It can be something you whistle or hum. My magic trigger is the first line of a song, so whenever I want to make myself do something, I just say, sing, hum, or tap out the rhythm to that line of the song and it magically makes me do whatever it is I know I want myself to do.

It gets stronger the more you use it, so I use it for all things big and small, whenever I want to invoke its power.

The trigger automatically flips the switch and now you’re doing the thing you want to make yourself do. Whether that be mowing the lawn, starting work on a project, approaching an attractive stranger, or closing the laptop and going to bed. You say your trigger and that signifies the end of any debate in your head. You say the trigger and get going. It works because you want it to work. It works because the part of your brain that wants to accomplish things also wants to have a magic trigger that somehow compels you to work on things.

So it’s a two step process:

First, understand that getting something done is not a matter of discipline that you need to maintain in the long-term. It’s simply a matter of flipping that switch. You may look at a task—writing a chapter in a book, say—and find it daunting, as it feels like it would require 8 hours of discipline. But it doesn’t really, it just requires enough discipline for you to initiate an impulse of will to get you to start doing it. Yes, you may feel a desire to stop doing something after you start, but that’s a weaker force than the inertia that prevents you from getting started in the first place.

Second, create a trigger—a word or action—that represents the flipping of the switch to get started. That way it’s not some free-flowing, ambiguous moment of inspiration that you hope to tap into. Instead, you create that moment by saying your trigger word.

So now, as long as you act as if you have a magic trigger, you’ll have one. (This is similar to the idea of the Magic Book in the JAMM issue 12).

But Andy, this is just a mental trick. There’s no real magic trigger. I could very well say my trigger word and then not do the thing too.

Yeah, no shit. That’s all everything is. If I said, “Here’s how not to get run over by a train. Walk next to the tracks., not on the tracks.” You could say, “Hey, that’s just a mental trick, I can still decide to walk on the tracks and get hit by a train.” Yeah, sure, dummy, you can do whatever you want.

This is a just a mindset thing that I—and some people I know—find helpful. I don’t really think of myself as self-motivated, or self-disciplined, I figure I have a good 30 seconds of discipline in me every day. But it only takes a couple of seconds to go from not doing something to starting in on it, so that 30 seconds is enough to get me on the right track multiple times throughout the day.

That’s all. Hope you all had a good holiday. I’m enjoying the shit out of myself. 2020 is going to be sweet. I’ll drop back in soon. xoxo

Dustings of Woofle #23

This is the final scheduled post for this season of The Jerx. The 2020 season will begin sometime in February, if the supporters want to keep it going.

I’ll be checking in every week or two to give an update on the status of the rewards packages for the 2019 supporters. As of now, everything is right on schedule for a late Jan/early Feb delivery date. Maybe sooner. Once all the elements have arrived and I know the weight of the final package, I’ll send out the email to collect your addresses and the shipping fee.

There will also be an issue of X-Comm coming to supporters in late January.

And I’ll be stopping by with one or two non-magic posts as well in the next month, including a post on some of my favorite music from 2019, for those who are into that sort of thing.

Let’s try not to miss each other too much while I’m gone, okay? This break will be good for us, baby, I swear.

Ellusionist… rip-off artists?

Back in the 90s there were these videotapes that were sold on TV that purportedly showed some “mysteries of the paranormal” or something like that.

My friends and I made some “funny” videos parodying these at that time. In one of them a friend of mine played a guy who could guess ESP symbols, just so long as they were written in black marker on loose-leaf paper that was backlit.

Here is a gif of my friend Pat, as the science researcher, testing the subject, looking very impressed, and helping him out by holding the paper to the light which the subject said, “increased [his] psychic abilities.”

And what does Ellusionist do? They fucking totally rip us off with the ESP cards in their new “How to Read Minds” kit! For shame!

And they didn’t even credit us! What the hell?

You might say, “Andy, is it possible that the ESP cards from Ellusionist are actually more see-thru than magic-marker on a single layer of loose-leaf paper?” Amazingly, yes.

I sometimes play a game with my friends called, “What’s the worst song to fuck to?”

Well, the game has ended. We all lose.

Does anyone know if Meir Yedid is micro-dosing psilocybin? I think his dosage might be off. His recent newsletter seems a little… detached from reality.

Here he seems to suggest that using a ping-pong ball will somehow make a ball and vase seem like a normal prop.

Hmmm. “What we have here is a normal, everyday, ping pong ball. And, of course, wherever you find a ping pong ball, you’ll find a standard hand-spun ping pong ball vase made of a singe piece of exotic wood.”

By the way, if you want to do ball and vase with a truly normal object, something your mom likely has in her bedside drawer, see this post.

What’s even stranger is Meir’s description of the “Magician Badge.”

I’m not quite sure what constitutes a “real Magician Badge.” I guess it’s as real as this badge which identifies you as an Official Pecker Checker with the Department of Erections.

“It adds a level of credibility to magicians.”

Huh? How so? I just thought this guy was some goofy dope… until he pulled out a badge identifying him as a magician, then I realized how wrong I had been.

“It causes a moment of panic, followed by relief and laughter.”

Really? Is that how it would play out? You “walk up to strangers,” and flash a badge and they “panic”? Oh, goddammit, you found me, officer. I’m the East Area Rapist. Huh? What’s that? Oh, you’re a magician. Oh, thank god. Relief and laughter ensues.

Ellusionist’s target audience age is 15 or so. On the fake credit card they give you with their mentalism kit, it says the card is valid from 10/89 (so they can get in the 1089 force).

That makes sense.

“Yeah, so 15 years before I was born, I applied for a credit card. It’s never too early to establish good credit.”

Then if they’re like, “What kind of fake credit card doesn’t have your name on it?” You can say, “I wasn’t born yet, stupid. I hadn’t been named. How are they going to put my name on the credit card when I am a formless spirit living in the void of the pre-existence?”

Both the “Magicians Badge” and the credit card have 1089 force reveals. If you don’t have either product and are desperate to do the 1089 trick, don’t worry, I’ve got you covered.

In the preview for Melissabeth’s video on my fake porn magic revelation site My Sex Tutor, you have the revelation for the 37 force, circle/triangle force, 1089 force, and grey elephant in Denmark force.

You’re welcome!

This quote from the back of the gimmicked Dracula book in Ellusionist’s kit made me laugh.

They didn’t write it, they just copied and pasted it from a poorly written site online.

One of, the most famous vampires? How unsure of yourself do you have to be that you feel you need to hedge a little on the subject of who the most famous vampire is?

“I don’t want to commit too hard to Dracula’s level of fame in the world of vampire literature. I can’t really assess who is or who isn’t famous. How would you quantify such a thing? There are a whole bunch of individuals we think of when we think of famous vampires. Sure, Dracula is definitely one of those. Then there’s… well… Count Chocula, of course. And who could forget, ‘David,’ Kiefer Sutherland’s character from the novelization of the movie The Lost Boys. All of these vampires need to be in the conversation for most famous.”

For everyone who celebrates the holiday, I hope you have a really wonderful Christmas (and if not, I hope you have a relaxing and enjoyable end to 2019).

If you get overwhelmed by this time of year, then I recommend this technique for focusing on the positive. You don’t have to concern yourself with having a perfect holiday season. Just look for those three highlights to carry with you going forward.

Take care. I’ll check back in with you soon. Merry Christmas!

Mailbag #20

Please tell me you’re going to do a full review of Ellusionist’s How to Read Minds Kit. Your writing on that has made my December.

I got my own kit a few days ago. Here are my thoughts:

• The thumb-writer is a grease pencil. What beginner is using a grease pencil when they perform?

• The ESP cards have the most visible marking system I've ever seen on marked cards. You couldn’t even call it hidden, it’s the ONLY noticeable part of the design. AND you can see right through the cards!

• The book test uses the first method a spectator would guess. It was the first method my daughter (who has no magic training) guessed after watching the performance. Also, for some reason they didn't cut the book to one of the standard dimensions a book comes in so it doesn't look or feel like a normal book.

• The wallet is oriented like no wallet I’ve ever seen. On the Cafe, Geraint from Ellusionist says it’s a leather hip pocket style wallet but he didn't mention that it folds open along the LONG edge. No real wallet is made like this. It's too big for a business card or credit card wallet and too small to hold money. Also, it’s not real leather, that’s just a bizarre lie.

• As you noted, the custom credit-card looks completely fake and that’s true whether you look at it from the front or the back. It's a clear magic prop.

• The notepad is okay if you’re the sort of person who carries around a faux-leather notebook with you (I’m not).

• The marked deck is fine.

• Everything else in the kit is filler.

The quality of the items is about what I expected, but the decision making that went into them is so poor that I won't be using this at all. I'm not an Ellusionist hater by any means. I like a lot of the things they put out, but not this.

Can’t wait to hear your thoughts. —JR

Actually, you can wait to hear my thoughts, and you will, because I won’t be giving my thoughts.

Originally my plan was to make my final post of the year (on Monday) a big unboxing and review of this kit. I thought that would be fun. And then I got the kit and opened it and it’s just… not that fun. I found it depressing, in some weird way. And I don’t want to spend hours of my life writing any more about it.

Hey, I don’t know, man! I’m a complicated little bitch! I love talking shit, but it’s got to be fun. And writing more about this kit just feels like a drag. It’s not so good or so bad that it would be enjoyable to write about in full. I’m glad it was a successful project for Ellusionist. And I hope the people who purchased it are happy with what they received. I haven’t watched the teaching yet, and I’m sure that’s the best part of the kit. So I’m not in a position to talk about the overall value of it.

You don’t need me anyways. There are surely other reviews to be found online. One way to know if they’re legitimate or not is if they mention that the ESP cards are unusable. This is not a question of opinion, it’s a matter of fact. You can see the ESP symbols through the cards. They used too cheap a card stock. If the review doesn’t mention this, then you know the rest of the comments are bought and paid for.

---

Do you ever worry about not being able to pull off something “as good” as the last thing you did for a person/group? —DI

No. There’s no benefit to thinking like that. 

First, because it’s impossible to maintain long-term. There’s no way to consistently do something “better” each time you perform. So why torture yourself with that goal? This isn’t running a marathon where you can improve your time each go-around. There aren’t quantifiable metrics that you can shoot for to strive for “better” each time.

In fact, when I do something that really hits someone hard, I usually intentionally show them something much less significant the next time I perform for them. I want them to realize that this is not a game of “can you top this?” that is going to go on eternally. As long as everything you show them is interesting and impressive in its own right, then you’re fine.

If you had a friend who cooked for you and one day made a gigantic 14-course dinner that was one of the highlights of your life, you’d still really enjoy them making some pancakes for you a month later, assuming the pancakes were good. 

Even if I could do something a little better each time, I wouldn’t want to. It would feel too polished and prepared to me. I want these things to have a casual air to them, and showing someone 20 trick over the course of two years that gradually increase in impressiveness doesn’t have that feeling. In fact, I think it would start to feel predictable to anyone who saw it. Whereas, if you’re constantly mixing up the type of stuff you show people, it’s easier to keep them on the hook. And since you haven’t established a pattern of constantly one-upping yourself, there is not a .sense of “failure” if you do something that isn’t as impressive as the last thing you did.

---

You have mentioned many times that you keep track of which tricks you perform for which people. This is so you don’t do the same trick for the same person twice. Since you keep track of this info, I was wondering if you also pay attention to make sure you never will do a trick for someone where the PREMISE would contradict the premise of a previous trick that you once did for them. I would need an example to best illustrate what I mean, so here is the first one I could come up with, although there’s probably better examples in your work:

In a very early post (June 5, 2015- “Free Magic Giveaway – EVP by Alan Rorrison”), as part of your presentation, you mention the idea that it’s very difficult to read someone’s mind because everyone is trying so hard to guard their own thoughts. More recently (March 15 2019- “Earn the Elements”), you mentioned a presentation where you introduce the premise with the exact opposite premise: that when someone tries to guard a certain thought, it actually becomes easier to figure out because their conscious effort to hide it sets off all sorts of tells.

So, I was just wondering if this is something you pay any attention to, to never do both of these for the same person, or at least not without a lot of time in between them. —YR

No, I don’t really look for consistency in that way. Most people aren’t going to be super pedantic about these sorts of things. And even if they are, I just assume I can talk myself out of—or around—anything they may bring up.

For example, if they said, “Hey, in one trick you said guarded information is harder to read and in another you said trying to guard information makes it easier to read.” 

I would just say something like, “Yeah, well both things are true. It’s like if you had a safe in your house. The safe protects your valuables, but it also tells me exactly where your valuables are. If I have one minute to rob your house, do I want a safe or no safe? I probably actually want you to have one. A minute isn’t enough time search through your whole house, but it is enough time to crack a safe, if I’ve learned those skills. The tools of mind reading are the tools of cracking the lock guarding the secrets in your head.” Just weaving a web of bullshit. 

If I’m doing something long-form that unfolds over the course of weeks or months, I wouldn’t do anything that contradicts it during that time. But outside of that, it’s not really something I consider.

---

How do your performance styles as discussed in Amateur at the Kitchen Table (peek backstage, romantic adventure, distracted artist) relate to Presentation and Context? —DW

Performing Styles and Context vs Presentation are concepts I wrote about a few years apart and they came sort of in the reverse order they should have. Because I’m writing about this stuff in, essentially, real time, you’re seeing the way these ideas actually developed rather than necessarily seeing them in the most intuitive order to understand those concepts.

I’ll get to where they intersect, but first, here’s a brief overview of Context vs Presentation.

Triumph Presentation - “One time this guy walked into a bar and shuffled my deck face-up into face-down. Like this.”

Triumph Context - You drop the deck creating a big mess of cards face-up and face-down. “Goddammit,” you say, picking up the cards. You start to separate them. “Eh, it will be quicker to reset the deck.” You call a number on your phone and read off a few digits from the bottom of the card case. After a couple seconds you spread the deck and they’re all facing the same way.

Presentations are stories laid on top of a trick. Contexts are present-tense situations in which the trick occurs.

The Performing Styles, are these:

Distracted Artist
Peek Backstage
Wonder Room
Engagement Ceremony
Romantic Adventure

More information on them can be found in the glossary on the right (or at the bottom of the page if you’re on your phone).

The Performing Styles are just very broad Contexts.

Distracted Artist is when a trick occurs in the context of an absentminded action.

Peek Backstage is when a trick occurs in the context of you showing them “something you’re working on.”

Wonder Room is when a trick occurs in the context of you showing them an interesting object from a collection.

Engagement Ceremony is when a trick occurs in the course of some kind of ritual.

Romantic Adventure is just another name for a long-form immersive context.

What makes something a “Performing Style” rather than just a general context is that it could conceivably be the only pretense you use to show people magic; it’s that broad. You could, for example, only ever show people magic items from the walls of your Wonder Room. Or only show them different rituals you’ve collected over the years. Or whatever. 

That’s the relationship between those ideas.

---

I’ve been thinking about Simon Aronson a lot since his passing. Which of his effects did you perform most often? —BR

None of these are deep cuts. They’re all on his DVD set.

Shuffle-bored - Obviously. Simon and John Bannon allowed me to put my presentational variation in the first book. And I’ve performed at least half a dozen variations on it over the years.

Among the Discards - This is one that has cycled in and out of my borrowed deck repertoire for 15 years now.

Self Control Lie Speller - If you have a smart spectator who can follow directions, this is a great one to do over Skype, where they have the deck on their end and you just talk them through it.

Side-Swiped - I created my own variation on the gimmicks used in this trick and a slightly different handling as well. But the heart of the trick is the same, and it kills.

Eight Benefits of Playing Dumb

In an earlier post I wrote, “Playing dumb (even when the audience knows you’re just ‘playing’) is incredibly disarming.”

Today I want to write about the benefits I see to playing dumb for the amateur performer. By “playing dumb,” I mean any sort of presentation or presentational technique that suggests there are aspects of what you’re showing them that you don’t fully understand or aren’t completely under your control. This is something I think should be done subtly. i’m not saying your “character” should be “wacky confused magician.” I’m just saying I’ve found benefits to presenting magic in a way that underplays my power and/or knowledge

(I’m not recommending these types of presentations for professionals or to be put on youtube or facebook or whatever. They really only works in amateur performances done in real life, in my opinion.)

Here are 8 of those benefits that work regardless of the spectator’s level of belief in your “dumbness.”

1. It subverts one of the bad magician stereotypes.

There are two primary stereotypes people have about magicians, as you see represented in pop-culture. First is that they’re creepy weirdos. Second is that they’re losers trying to impress people with their fake powers. (I guess there’s some overlap there.) If you “play dumb” a little you will come off as someone who is not motivated by looking like the smartest/most powerful guy in the room. That undermines the stereotype of needing attention and affirmation. So now you just need to worry about the creepy weirdo thing, which hopefully you have already defeated in your interaction with the people.

2. It’s a safety net should things go wrong.

It doesn’t bother me much if a trick fails. I just don’t feel embarrassment very keenly. But it’s still nice to have a presentational safety-net should things not go right. If you say, “I will light that candle with just the power of my mind,” and it doesn’t light, then the audience has nowhere to go but, “Oh, did your fake-y candle not work?”

But if you say, “I’m working on some pyrokinesis stuff. I want to try something. Would you mind standing behind me in case I pass out?” And then, if the candle doesn’t light, you can say, “Damn, this is really hard. I’ll get there.” And your failure doesn’t up-end the narrative you’ve established.

3. It puts you in a position to lead reactions.

See this post on leading reactions.

There’s nothing weirder than a person who is acting the role of “magician” but also acts surprised by the magic around them. Why did you get on stage in that tuxedo only to be surprised by the cards that keep coming from your hands? What did you think you were going to do on that stage?

But, by “playing dumb” you can often put yourself and your spectator on the same side of the experience. This allows you to guide their reactions in a way.

So, if you say you want to try to manifest a spirit, maybe you dim the lights and read an incantation and a picture falls from the wall. “Ah, fuck that shit,” you say. You turn on the lights. You’re spooked. The incantation is cancelled. If you’re freaked out, that can freak them out.

Or if you’re amazed or confused or shocked by something, you can end up amplifying those feelings in others. But that doesn’t work if you’re presenting yourself as completely in control.

4. It suggests confidence.

More often than not, people will understand that you’re playing dumb. But that’s a good look. Traditionally in magic we’re acting more powerful than we really are. Often (not always) when you’re playing dumb you’re acting as if you deserve less credit for what’s happening. This is an attractive trait in people.

5. It frees people up to react to the magic rather than reacting to you.

If you’re, “The Magician,” then everything that happens is a result of your powers and therefore the way they react to the trick is a referendum on you and your performance. By shifting the focus off yourself, you’re able to make it more about the experience than about you.

For people who want to give you credit, they’re still able to do so, as they will realize that regardless of the approach you took to what you were showing them, you were ultimately the person behind what happened.

For people who want to get a little more caught up in the magic and the impossibility, then you’ve given them something they can entertain in their mind besides the idea that you have super-powers.

6. It feels more spontaneous.

“I’m going to show you my powers via this trick,” feel much less spontaneous than, “I want to try something out.” The first suggest you know exactly how it will play out and this is just a demonstration of something you’ve done many times before. The second suggests that you’re all going to discover something together.

7. It implies a broader world of secrets.

If you, the person performing the trick, don’t understand exactly how it works, then that suggests that there are aspects to magic methodologies that are a little more “out there” and fascinating than someone might normally imagine.

8. It’s more consistent with a small demonstration.

“I have the powers of the mages of yore. Behold my awesome gifts, mortals. Watch as I float this match above this card.”

vs.

“What the heck? I swear, this matchstick just floated off this card a little. How the hell? I can’t believe that telekinesis pill worked. No, I swear it happened. I’ve been concentrating on it for five minutes. Shit… why won’t it go up again. Oh wait… there it goes!”

A final, potential benefit is this…

It clouds the waters.

You: “Look! I have magic powers!”

Them: “That was cool. But, no, you don’t.”

End of discussion

As opposed to this…

You: “I’m trying something out.” “I’m learning something.” “I read this weird thing.” “Check out this thing I found.” “There’s this woman I know who claims she can read mind. I want to test her.”

Them: “Hmmm… really? Oh… you’re just kidding around. Wait… are you serious?”

My goal (and I’m not saying it should be yours, which is why I only call this a “potential benefit”) is to make it a little harder to dismiss what I showed them as “just a trick.” By playing dumb I’m able to complicate the story of the effect to give them more to consider, and hopefully amp up the mystery of the entire interaction.