I've Made A Horrible Mistake Week: Day Four
/Okay! Now…NOW… I think we’re ready to go. If you’ve been following along, you know the drill. Blah, blah, blah… first magic blog content completely written by AI… blah, blah, blah… last post I’m going to personally write on this site. And so on. Again, other than the first paragraph of the following article, which was written by me, everything else in this post was written by the AI blog writing product Writesonic.
Here it is. I’m going to recommend you get out your notebooks because I’m guessing there’s going to be a ton of killer content you’re going to want to make note of.
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Confessions of an Amateur Magician: How to Perform Magic Tricks at Home
I'm an amateur magician, and I'm going to share with you my dirty little confession about how I perform magic tricks at home. The professional magician has a stage to perform from. That gives him instant credibility. As an amateur, I don't have a stage. I've got the part of my room the futon is in, and the part of the room the tv is in. And then I have the kitchen that I share with Trent. But he doesn't like me performing magic in there. So really I just have the futon and TV area. And I CERTAINLY don't have Trent's room. That's off limits. So here's how I perform magic tricks at home.
Introduction
"Okay, Kavan, let's do our routine. You're the magician." "Yep. That's what I am." I hold the card up and give it a quick close-up look-see for whatever flaw may have been revealed to me during the performance. "Perfect. I want you to show it to me again so that I can figure out how you did it. What do you have up your sleeve?" "I have a piece of paper in my hand. I put it on the table right there. And I hand the card to Trent. But he takes the paper and scrunches it up into a ball. He tosses it away and holds the card in his hand. Okay?" "Perfect. That's pretty impressive. And it's still probably too good for you to be able to do it with some regularity, but it looks like you may be able to do it on a different occasion. Why don't you try again?
Where to Perform Magic Tricks at Home
When I have a few friends over to practice, I always start in the kitchen. Or the futon. This is the stage. You see the magic trick there. You hear me flipping the table over, or the lightbulb turning on, or whatever. Everyone likes watching the magic trick. There's something about watching the magic trick that is hypnotic. Especially if they are really good friends. And I need these friends. Because it takes a lot of "I know, but" excuses to get Trent to practice magic with me. So I need more friends to help me practice magic. Now there is another part of the magic trick. And that is about the time we are done. I need to try to quickly do all the simple tricks in this part of the magic trick that aren't amazing. So my time is better spent trying to teach Trent other stuff I do.
How to Perform Basic Tricks
I started out with simple tricks. I know. If you are an amateur magician, you are probably thinking, "Oh for pity's sake. Don't use Magic Words!" And here's the secret: Magic Words are okay. In fact, you should use them if you are going to do magic tricks at home. They are not magic, but they can confuse people. And give you the opportunity to escape danger. Magic Words, when used correctly, can make your audience see things you do not want them to see. The audience may believe your magic is real. If you don't use magic words, and you use magic, it is real. Therefore you use magic. I started out with a couple basic tricks. They are simple, but they are also extremely difficult to do with my budget. The trick requires a pen and paper. I bought a pen from the dollar store.
Card Trick
I love to perform a card trick. I have a deck of cards and a deck of playing cards. I lay them out like this. Cards on the bottom, then ace up top. The trick is to have your audience guessing which card is the ace. So what I do is turn the playing cards so they don't face up. So the bottom card is the ace, and the top card is a nine. Okay, what I want you to do is count the cards. Here I'll do one on my right hand, but I want you to do it with your left. So all you have to do is count your right hand, then count your left. I'm going to flip them over, you're going to count, then I'll flip them over again. And all you need to do is to say “Oh look. I got another one.” Say that four times, and you'll know which one is the ace. I'll let you go ahead and do this on your own.
Pocket Trick
A classic trick that any magician should know how to perform. Without using a pocket. You could try to, but as my neighbor Trent (who is the only person who gets to use his side of the futon that I don't) will tell you, your not getting this magic trick to work. You can have a pocket, or you can buy a magic pocket. It's all the same. This trick isn't about having a pocket in front of you. This is about having that pocket behind you. You can have a pocket on top of you or in front of you, and if you aren't careful it will change the way your performing the trick. Okay, now watch this video, and we'll take a look at this trick. Trent and I try and teach you a magic trick. It's called a pocket trick. A magic trick where the trick is performed from behind.
Coin Trick
So the coins that I use for this trick are coin bank nickels. My family doesn't need coins for the washing machine and the dishwasher. This is a very, very popular trick. I really shouldn't use coins because a lot of folks find them too small to have the proper amount of weight to be in your hand, but I like them because you can only see their faces. So that's what I do. I pretend I'm not doing it because I know Trent would think that's cheating. But I put a dime and a dime in my left hand and 3 pennies in my right hand. I use my forefingers to grasp the dime and nickel. Then I rub them together and I hold them out in front of me. I tell Trent that I'm going to put them in my left hand, and then I'll change my hand to my right and rub them against my face'.
The Best Magic Tricks for Beginners
The stuff I do are the ones where you don't need to have a lot of experience. I can't teach you how to cast a spell, because I don't know, so I won't. But I will tell you how I perform magic tricks. You will learn a little bit about the science behind these magic tricks. That's how you'll be able to teach your friends and family. We'll start with the simplest of magic tricks. Simple Magic Tricks Many magic tricks use sleight of hand. To perform these tricks, you can use several props, if you have the space. You'll need to have a lot of props. A cigar box, a tube of duct tape, a jewelry box, a pen and notebook, and a deck of cards are all good things to have in your house. Take the jewelry box and use it as a playing card holder. You'll need a deck of cards, a pen, and a deck of cards.
Disappearing coin trick
You know those coins that change color? That's a simple trick, that I perform at home all the time. I bought a metal coin tray that looks like a basket. I insert the coin tray, flip the coin over to reveal the basket. It changes colors. Simple. More at the Princeton Packet. Too many therapists? We can help. I have been seeing a woman named Amanda for many years. My wife and I can't agree on therapy. One of us is satisfied with our therapist, while the other one is unsatisfied with the therapist that we're both seeing. It's a source of conflict. It's hard to be successful at marriage when you're fighting about who gets to see their therapist.
Vanishing or appearing handkerchief trick
I learned this one in my 25th birthday when I had a girlfriend for the first time, (I've got one every year) and we went to a magic show. The magician shows us this trick that would work for the dares. And I have a set up that I do when I'm at home. Step 1: Put a napkin or tissue in my mouth, hold it in there and cough. Step 2: Grab it and pull it out. Step 3: "DID YOU CHEW IT UP!" Step 4: Enjoy the shocked look of the crowd. It works every time. Rainbow effect I read an article about magnetic rainbow effect and I got all excited about it. So I tried it out and I could do it with magnetic bar. Which I was happy about because I already had one. It didn't work. But here's how I did it: Step 1: Take a bar magnet. Step 2: Put the bar magnet in a tin foil holder.
Conclusion
I should quit doing magic at home. But I can't. It's too fun. I've got seven more books to write. And a blog to write. And this site to keep up. And a friend to entertain and pester. I'm too busy. No, not busy. I'm the King of Content. I've got a lot of work to do. But the little tricks are fun, the satisfaction is fast. And nobody sees what I do. The cat seems to have trouble understanding this. She still tries to catch my hand every single time I do a trick at home. Why do cats get it so hard? The only down side of performing magic at home is getting one of Trent's bad habits to rub off on me. I keep forgetting to pick him up before I perform a trick.
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Uhm… okay. So…hmm.
So it looks like this technology might still need a few tweaks before it’s ready for prime time. Or daytime. Or any time, really. It seemed really intent on making Trent the break-out star of this post. It went so far as to suggest Trent and I are sharing a futon. (We’re not. I specifically mentioned in my opening paragraph that Trent had a room!)
I also found it odd there were numerous, obvious grammatical mistakes in the article. I don’t know what to expect from AI, but at the very least I thought it would have a better batting average than I do at using the correct your/you’re.
This wasn’t a total failure, right? I mean, there was that idea to use a jewelry box as a card holder. That’s not a terrible idea. At the very least it’s an idea, which is something that was missing from the rest of the article.
Aw fuck it. Let’s be honest. It looks like I’ll be back writing this site for the time being. See you back here tomorrow.
Out of curiosity, does anyone know if you invested a large sum of money—say half a million dollars—into a company that told you they have a product that’s going to make your job much easier, and it turned out their product didn’t even slightly work… is there any way you can get your money back? Just curious.