Early Edition

Here’s an idea I’ve pitched to a few friends who have had some success with it. It’s not something I do because it doesn’t really address an issue I face myself. But you may find it beneficial.

Similar ideas may already exist in the self-help literature, but I don’t read much of that sort of thing so I don’t really know.

Here is the idea as I wrote it up in an email to my friend.

Here’s what you should do. Get yourself a blank notebook and every night before bed you should write a diary entry in it. So, for example, your entry might look like this:

July 15th

Woke up in a great mood today.

Ran three miles before work.

Got lunch with Tim and we went over some really strong ideas for the next season of the show.

After work I practiced guitar for a half-hour.

Then grilled up steaks for Kim and the girls and after dinner we went out for ice cream.

Afterwards I worked on the new book for a little bit and banged out a couple pages before relaxing for the rest of the evening.

Now, that might look like a pretty standard, even bland, diary entry. It doesn’t really delve too deep into your hopes and dreams or whatever. But that’s not the important thing about it. The important thing about it is that you write it on July 14th.

Get it? So it’s not a record of your day, it’s your intention for what the next day will bring, but you write it as if it already happened. So it’s part to-do list, and part intention-setting visualization exercise of what you want to get from the next day.

I suspect you will find your days will end up looking very similar to what you write.

So that was the idea I gave him—and some other people since then—and it seems to be working well for them.

Now, the people I suggest this to are people who have issues with anxiety or getting the things done that they plan to or people who find themselves entering into situations with a negative mindset. I don’t know the psychology of why it works (if it even does work, generally). But I’m guessing if you go into the day and you’ve already seen it in your mind being a success, then you’re more likely to get that outcome. And writing it down in the past tense just reinforces the strength of that process, I would imagine.

I would only write things in the book that are within your control, like your emotions and your actions. Don’t write things like, “And the yankees won. And I found a $100 bill. And a pretty lady said I’m the handsomest man she’s ever met.” It’s not supposed to be a book of your special wishes. It’s intended to be a book that focuses your mind for the coming day.

(Long time readers will recognize a similarity between this concept and something in The JAMM #12. It’s not quite the same idea, but it’s similar.)

The Juxe: Unreal is Here

I was emailed this list of “10 Bands from the 90s You’ve Never Heard.” While I had heard of many of them, some were new to me. But I wanted to highlight one that wasn’t, and that’s the group Chavez, a math-rock band from the mid-90s. I never followed them too closely but they do have one song I particularly like called Unreal Is Here.

The video is pretty funny. Chavez were not a well known band, but the video presents them as if they were in a faux “behind the scenes” style manner, catching them in fake candid situations that a “big” band might find themselves in (riding in helicopters, dropping off a big check for their “Chavez Kids” charity, excitedly rushing out of the shower to see their video being played on tv). My favorite moment is when the bass player plays basketball while wearing his bass (Which is something Metallica’s bass player bizarrely does in the video for Nothing Else Matters.)

Also, this would be a dope “theme song” for a magic show. “Unreal is Here” is a solid show title. And the lyrics fit too…

Yes, you will do now
What can't be done
Your unreal is here now

Correct, you can learn now
What truth denies
Your unreal is here now

There is nothing to not be amazed at
There are weeks upon years upon days that...

Things that can happen
Happen to you
Your unreal is here now

There is nothing to not be amazed at
There are weeks upon years upon days that...

Just take this with you
Just take this with you...

Here’s another bizarre, funny, weird Chavez video for the song Break Up Your Band.

Until August...

Okay, it’s that time of the month (my menses), where I’m going to split until August.

Don’t imagine me taking a 10 day vacation every month. It’s just the time when I shift the focus from the blog to the newsletter (and the next book, but that’s an all month thing).

I was just reflecting on how much of an idiot I am. Coming into this season of The Jerx, I was saying, “I need to cut-down on the amount of content I’m putting out.” And somehow the method I came up with for doing that was to go from 12 post a month to 20, and go from four newsletters per year to ten. I’m a dipshit.

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I introduced the Second Helping feature last month where people can advertise their book or multi-trick video release for free on this in exchange for letting us help ourselves to the second best thing on the release (see the details here).

This month, Brandon Toh kind of broke the system by giving me something to share which people can already get for free. So it doesn’t really fit in with the premise of this feature.

You can download the full booklet from Brandon at his site (you might as well, it’s free—or “name your own price” which for magicians is “free.”). He believes the second best thing in the book is the effect Decja Vu. Check it out here.

If you’d like to offer something from your (not free) release in a future installment of Second Helpings, you can just email me and we’ll set it up.

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Perhaps I judged Bolted too harshly in last Friday’s post. At least that’s what Michael Weber wrote in to suggest. He writes:

You are usually open minded and willing to consider alternative approaches to magic, so your reaction to Bolted was a bit of a surprise.

Back in 1994 I was practicing Houdini's Water Torture Cell in my magic den when one of the glass side panels broke. 

It sent a torrent of water through my apartment and the four apartments directly below mine.

Wooden props like the Vampire Block and Card Duck were spared because they floated. 

Books, magazines, manuscripts, posters, playbills and photographs did not fare as well.

One of the non-magic  losses was all my wedding photos, except for the one picture I kept in my everyday-carry Le Paul wallet.

Because it was the only surviving photo of that special day, I used strong hardware to secure it inside a protective  plastic holder.

I am not trying to claim any priority in the idea, but the fact they've recently hit on something I've done for decades may suggest you were a little quick to criticize.

He’s right. I’m wrong. I just didn’t have the creativity to see that it actually makes perfect sense to keep something precious to you in a clear case with bolts going through it. In fact, the only issue I have with Bolted now is: too few bolts. Get a baker’s dozen or so of those bolts running through their card to really make sure it’s in place for good.

Michael proves that old Dai Vernon quote correct…

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I just cracked myself up. I was watching Asi Wind’s Vanishing Inc Lecture. And he said something like, “And then you ask them to write down something you couldn’t know. Like their dog’s name, or the name of the first person they kissed.”

And I said, “Or the name of the first dog they kissed.”

And I’ve been delighted by that for a good 8 minutes.

It’s super late though and everything is funny to me at this time of night.

Perhaps you can put it in your show. Maybe as one of those moment of faux humility the pros sometimes script into their performance.

“Now I’d like you to write down something I couldn’t know. Like the name of the first dog you kissed or something like that. And what I’m going to do is… wait… what’s going on? Huh? What did I say? Oh my god, how embarrassing. I meant to say, ‘Like the name of your dog or the name of the first person you kissed.’ How silly of me. And I’m supposed to be the one with the super-powered mind! Hahaha! Oh boy. What a charming mistake on my part.”

“But seriously, write down something I couldn’t know. If you did kiss a dog, hell, write down the dog’s name! Hahaha. What a totally fun spontaneous moment! Perhaps you didn’t even kiss the dog. Maybe you just gave him a hand-job. Or got him off in some other way. Maybe you have some ‘rule’ about only kissing when you’re in love. You’re like a Julia-Roberts-in-Pretty-Woman-style prostitute. So you sucked that dog’s dick or ate out his furry little asshole or something, right? Hahaha. Get your face all up in there. ‘Ahhgahhgahhgahh. Yumyumyumyumyum.” Who knows? Whose to say? We’re just having fun here. Hey, maybe you were on the receiving end of a multi-dog gang-bang and all holes were filled with hot dog cock. I don’t know. It happens. And it makes my job more difficult because I have to think of which of those dogs you’d be likely to think about. You see what I’m saying? Haha. Hey, do we have fun at a Joshua Jay show or what?”

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Okay, beat it. See you in August.

The Deconstructed Journal

A couple weeks ago when I wrote up my magic organizational system using Notion, I mentioned that I use the application to organize many other things in my life as well. I received a few emails asking how else I use it, so I decided to discuss that today.

Things I track in Notion that would may be of general use/interest to others:

Books I Read

I track Title, Author, Start and End Date, and short summary.

Movies I Watch

I track Title, Director, Date I watched it, Who I watched it with, and short summary.

Seasons of Television I Watch

I track Name of the show; the Season; the day I started watching; the day I ended watching; if it’s the sort of show that tells one story over the course of the season I’ll write a couple sentences about the arc of the season; and I have a checkbox to indicate if I’ve completed the full series, and another checkbox if I’m rewatching the season.

Meetups and Dates

If I’m seeing someone I don’t see on a regular basis, I’ll keep track of it here: Who I saw, where I saw them, the date, anything interesting or amusing that happened.

Things that made me laugh really hard

Not just laugh a little, but if a conversation or something I’m watching/listening too has me doubled over with laughter, I’ve started keeping track of that. It’s fun to relive the things that almost made you pee your pants.

Notes on non-fiction books

If I’m reading about something historical, or something like that, I don’t keep notes. But if it’s a book about anything productive or business-y, I’ll usually make note of the 3-5 valuable sentences in the whole book.

App Ideas

I have no idea how to make an app, but I better learn because I have close to 100 ideas for apps.

Business Ideas

Products, inventions, potential money making ideas.

Story Ideas

Basic plot elements for things that may one day emerge in some creative outlet.

Meals

Not every meal. But when I’m eating somewhere new, I’ll note the restaurant, rate it, and mention the best thing I ate.

Outings/Adventures

I make note of where I went, what I did, who I was with, the date it occurred.

My Anticipation List

I’ll discuss this in a future post, but basically it’s just a list of stuff I’m looking forward to and the date those things are happening.

Finally, I have some daily checklist stuff for habits and tasks I need to do daily.

Beyond that I have a bunch of pages devoted to specific projects I’m involved with.

I would say I’ve moved 95% of my planning/tracking systems over to Notion. The one thing it’s actually not good at is any spreadsheet that you’re using to manipulate numbers and data. For those sorts of things I still use Google Sheets.

As the title of this post suggests, I think of this manner of tracking things as a “deconstructed journal.” The nice thing about Notion is that any database you keep that has a date element in it can be converted into a calendar with just one click. So I can just change the view to “Calendar” view and see who I was with, what I was doing, what I was watching or reading, etc. It’s perhaps not the best choice if you want to journal about your thoughts and feelings and hopes and dreams (although you could do that as well). But if you just want to keep track of the things and people and events and moments that make up your life, it’s a really good way to do that.

The Juxe: Boy/Girl Vocals

I’ve always been a sucker for boy/girl co-lead vocals. It’s a quick way to my heart, musically. Here are a few of my favorites.

Proofs by Mates of State (Lawrence, Kansas)

I love this song. Boy/Girl counterpoint vocals that are just perfect. That opening “Yeah!!!” kicks. The Japanese group Chatmonchy did a really great cover too.

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Just To Make Me Feel Good by Adam Green and Binki Shapiro

Adam and Binki have a real Nancy Sinatra/Lee Hazelwood thing going on here.

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You’re Gonna Fall Back Into It, By I Will Always Love You by Wolfie (Champaign-Urbana, Illinois)

From a Pitchfork write-up of the band:

These four kids play like they think they're out-rocking AC/DC-- with cheapy instruments in a mid-Illinois garage. They're also just bursting with joy, from the boy/girl vocals (chirpy deadpan versus bratty drawl) to the keyboard leads and tambourine-shaking buildups. Something in the combination of carefree melody, garage-pure setup, and hyper-energetic "rock"-- along with this combo's sharp songwriting skills-- make this stuff a revelation, for whatever tiny portion of listeners "gets" it.

Mailbag #27

Is there any salvaging this trick? —EC

The link in the email went to a re-release of a trick called Bolted. Where you bring out (supposedly) a souvenir card in a case like this…

And then the spectator’s signed card switches places with the card in the case. So the premise is Signed Card to Impossible(ly Stupid) Location.

What exactly would be the purpose of a protective case for a card that puts two bolts through the middle of it? On what planet does that make sense? Is that the premise of the trick? That you’ve transported your spectator to a planet of morons?

It would be like buying a vinyl protective cover for your 1957 Chevy which you have to staple onto the car.

It makes no logical sense. However, if, at the end, they could unbolt the frame and remove the card (which is what any human would want to do) then I could probably still come up with a reason for the frame. But the spectator can’t do that. So no, the trick isn’t salvageable in my opinion.

Okay, okay… if I had to perform this trick, I’d have a card selected and signed. Then I’d say, “I’m going to make your card vanish and reappear, but because of where it’s going, I have to do this first…,” And I’d carefully tear out a couple of holes in the card (in the areas where the bolts would be). Then have the card vanish and reappear in the frame.

In that way, at least, you’d be creating some intrigue about the purpose of your actions. “Why is he tearing the holes?” “What does he mean, ‘Because of where it’s going’?” Then, when the frame is revealed, it’s not just a card to impossible location, it also give them an “answer” to the minor mystery.

In fact, here’s what I’d probably do. I’d do card to wallet. Then I’d say something like, “I’ve been performing this trick for a long time. The unfortunate part is—you saw my hands were empty when they went in my pocket, and you saw how fairly I removed the card from the wallet—and yet despite that you will still go home tonight and the logical part of your mind will think, ‘He must have just snuck the card into the wallet at some point when I wasn’t paying close enough attention.’ The idea that the card really vanished from the deck and really appeared in the wallet is just too unbelievable.”

As I say this I’d be tearing the holes out.

“So to prove it to you, I’m going to vanish it and make it reappear again. But this time, somewhere where I couldn’t possibly just ‘sneak’ it quickly. Now, because of where it’s going to go, I have to do this first.”

And take it from there.

In this way, you’d sort of be justifying the oddness of the frame. The idea being that you had to resort to making this thing to prove to people the card was actually vanishing and reappearing somewhere else.

The one thing you absolutely can’t do is suggest it’s a frame for something you want to protect. That’s beyond insane.

I think tearing the holes adds a little smoke to the proceedings. It goes further to suggest a card that’s not just sandwiched between two things, but enclosed and linked into the frame.

But still, the fact that the person can’t undo the apparatus to remove their card makes the thing a no-go for me. When it comes to magic props, I want something normal looking that is examinable. But I can still work with something strange as long as it’s examinable, or something unexaminable so long as it looks like a normal object. What I can’t use (and really no magician should bother with) is something strange and unexaminable.

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Re: Tuesday’s post, Stumble. Pause. Answer.

I'd add something else to what's been said.

The answer itself shouldn't be too long, since you haven't really thought it through that much, and all through the answer you should be giving the impression that you're not sure that it *is* the answer. And then just continue on, to put that whole thing into a parentheses, as if it's just an aside, of lesser importance to the task at hand.

So I would amend your example answer to something more like:

"Hmm...Uh... I don't know really. I've always done it that way. (implying: I'm just as clueless as you) Uh...I guess maybe I don't want you to think I'm playing the odds? Maybe I just want to get to the pure mindreading experience? I'm not sure. Anyway, concentrate on your card..." —JS

I know where you’re coming from—and in some circumstances that is the way to go—but I was getting at something somewhat different in that post.

What you’re suggesting here is a very natural way to reply to a question. But it doesn’t really gain you anything with the spectator. Instead of Stumble-Pause-Answer, it’s essentially Stumble-Pause-Guess.

If I’m doing a trick where the conceit is that I don’t really know what’s going on (which is something I do a lot), then Stumble-Pause-Guess is a fine way to reply to a question. It’s very consistent.

But, what I’m looking to do with the Stumble-Pause-Answer technique is capitalize on the inconsistency of a stumble, followed soon after with a somewhat cogent/logical answer.

In what situations in real life would you not answer immediately and then come back moments later with a clear response? I think that has the hallmarks of saying something that’s true, but it’s just something you hadn’t given much thought to in a while.

Like, let’s say you asked someone, “How did your daughter get into horseback riding?”

They might say, “Oh… I don’t know. She’s just been doing it for… a long time now… [Pause] Oh, actually, it was her former babysitter who used to ride years ago, and that sort of lit the spark. She adored that babysitter and wanted to be just like her. And when she turned 8 she had her birthday party at the stables, and since then it’s just been her passion.”

That’s a very clean, clear-cut, detailed answer, but it doesn’t seem out of place after an initial stumble and pause. You can sense that it just took the person a moment to put the pieces together in their head. There’s a flow to that sort of answer that I like, and that I think comes across as natural. If someone gives you a response that sounds simultaneously unplanned and logical, that’s going to feel legitimate.

That’s what I’m aiming for. And to be clear, with my style of performance, I’m trying for a feeling not to actually convince anyone of anything. And that will depend on my ability to deliver a clear answer in a manner which doesn’t sound scripted. You want (or at least I want) social magic to have the flow of a real conversation, so they’re continually getting caught up in it and have to remind themselves that we’re talking about something that can’t possibly be real.

To simplify the advice in the previous post: For the amateur performer, in situations where you do give an answer to questions about process/procedure, it’s often best to stumble into the answer.

That will suggest that whatever they’re questioning—which is probably 100% required for the trick to work and is the only thing that’s going to allow you to pull off this miracle—is actually something you haven’t really given much thought to.

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Joshua Jay sent me the following image. No, I had nothing to do with it, and I don’t know who did. Although I do appreciate that I’ve apparently created a whole cottage industry of people doing their own freelance Josh/Andi erotic fan-fiction.

Mystery Card

Here’s a little mystery you might be able to help solve. Reader, Carl W’s friend’s grandfather was a police officer who dies in the 1930’s in a shootout with some bank robbers. Which is how I imagine most police officers in the 1930s dying. That or this.

In his wallet they found this card. But no one seems to know what it means.

Do you have any idea? I’ll give a prize to the first one who gives me an accurate answer. What will the prize be? I don’t know. Let’s say it’s $2. That way you can only be pleasantly surprised with whatever you get beyond that.

Now, while it looks like it might be something fun and mysterious, there’s also a chance it’s a Ku Klux Klan membership card. And no, I’m not kidding about that. At least that’s the suspicion some people have. Although I’m not sure if that’s based on anything other than the fact that it was found in the wallet of some guy in the 1930s. Wallets used to come with a special slot for your KKK membership card back then.

It’s obviously something strange—it’s not something that you get punched 10 times for a free sub sandwich—but what is it? If you have any insight, please send it my way and I’ll pass it along.

It does remind me of those “pocket mentalism” cards that people sell. I’ve never been a huge fan of those, because—despite what they might be dressed up as—they very often look like a prop for a magic trick. However, if you had something that looked old and weathered and you said, “We found this in my grandfather’s wallet after he died. I carried it around with me for years before realizing something strange about it…,” that could be a cool presentation. Perhaps I’ll work on that.

[Update: So far the most common guess is that the boxes represent some sort of gestures. For example, second column, in second box down: wipe brow, pinch left ear (with words written incorrectly as well as backwards). One guess that has come up a few times is that these gestures might be baseball signs. But I can almost guarantee they’re not that. (Although I’ll double the prize to 4 whole dollars, if that turns out to be the case.) When you see a third-base coach giving signs, they look complicated, but they’re not. They just bury the signals in a lot of decoy movements. You would never have signs so convoluted that you needed this sort of card to keep track of them. And we know what the signs in baseball represent (steal, bunt, take, hit and run, delayed steal, etc.). We should be able to find them in some form on this card. It wouldn't make sense to have a card of gestures without indicating what they mean, even if that’s coded too. But more importantly, how big is this baseball team that you’re printing up specially made cards in the 1930s? You got 25 guys on the team. You’d just have them write the signs down and take five minutes to learn them. You wouldn’t go to Ye Olde Vistaprint.]