Introducing Chad Brooks
/We all know the owner and operator of the Magic Café, Steve Brooks.
But most of you probably aren’t familiar with his older brother, Chad Brooks.
Chad and Steve have a complicated relationship. Chad was banned from the Café for mentioning my site, and now the two aren’t speaking. It’s unfortunate.
Since Chad no longer has the Café as an outlet to share his thoughts on the magic world, I’ve offered him some space here on The Jerx to weigh in on recent discussions happening on the Café.
I don’t usually hand the reins over to anyone else, but in this case, I feel a bit responsible for the sibling rift and for Chad’s exile from the Café.
Besides, Chad and I actually see eye to eye on a surprising number of magic-related topics. So, with that... here’s Chad:
Hi guys. Good to be here, and big thanks to Andy for letting me guest post.
I miss Stevie. I really do. I hope we can put all this behind us. I’m sorry for mentioning The Jerx on the Café, Stevie! Can’t we just be brothers again?
Who’s been there for you your whole life? Who stuck by your side during the Fruit by the Foot incident at the mall, when you were chowing down on one end and the other end got sucked into the escalator and you refused to let go so the fire department had to be called to set you free? Who kept you calm while your legs were flailing and everyone was filming on their phones?
That was me. Your big brother.
Anyway, here are a few quick thoughts on some threads fromn the Latest and Greatest section over at Stevie’s site.
Danny Garcia is one of my all-time favorite creators and no one is as excited to see him back as I am.
And I think this new trick of his is strong and looks very clean.
However, the premise is ultimately just, “I predicted the card you would name.”
Perhaps Andy has poisoned me with his “Carefree” performance philosophy, but I can’t help but ask myself if I’m going to carry around an index and a special envelope just for the sake of performing that premise. I don’t see it happening.
I will likely still buy it to support Danny’s work, but I’m going to have to find another premise to explore with the props.
The more existential question to think about here is, “Is there any reason to create more tricks where you’ve predicted the card someone will name?”
Life Lessons from the Magic Cafe
Just about any reasonable size object you can put up to your lips can become your harmonica.
So true.
I like to use that Invisible Harmonica trick when I go down on my wife. Heeeeee-HAWWWWNNNNN!
The card in their hand, is the card they're THINKING of!?
It’s a good thing Greg Rostami put a question mark at the end of this thread title, because the answer is, “No. No it’s not.”
Instead, the card in their hand is a QR code, which leads to a picture of the card they’re thinking of.
I’ll be honest: I think any trick that uses a QR code is probably bad magic. No matter how you frame it, revealing a prediction via QR code just feels needlessly convoluted. And worse, it often points to the method.
“Well, he couldn’t just show me the actual prediction because he didn’t know what I’d say. So he must have some way of directing this QR code to what I said after the fact.” Which is precisely what’s going on.
And whatever you do, definitely don’t do what Greg does in the performance video linked in that thread. He tells the woman: “There’s a person in the photo you’re holding, and they’re holding your card.” She names the card. She turns the photo over. The person is holding… a QR code.
WHY WOULD YOU TELL PEOPLE YOU’RE GOING TO DO A BETTER TRICK THAN YOU’RE ACTUALLY GOING TO DO?
A QR code is always going to feel like a downgrade from a direct, visual prediction. So if you’re going to use one, the trick you describe needs to sound even less impressive than the QR code reveal. That way, the effect still builds.
Perhaps, “The person in this photo is holding a card that the’s exact same color as the card you’re thinking of. What card are you thinking of?”
The King of Clubs.
“So, a black card? Would you be shocked if the person in the photo was also holding a black card? Take a look. See? It’s a black QR code. But it’s even a little more accurate than that. Just scan that for me.”
OR
The Four of Hearts
“So, a red card? Would you be shocked if the person in the photo was also holding a red card? Take a look. Oh, yeah, it’s a QR code. But I swear it’s a QR code that goes to a picture of a red card. Just scan it and see.”
I’m not saying that’s great. I’m just saying: at least it doesn’t set up an impossible trick and then deliver a disappointing compromise.