Jerx Christmas - Pete McCabe - 7:16 PM

In the other room, the kids now have Dan Harlan bound up in his own rubber bands. It’s getting weird in there so I’ve been hanging out with the adults mainly.

In the corner I saw Pete McCabe.

He was performing a trick for a young couple. I like it a lot. It reminds me of John Bannon’s Sort of Psychic, a trick I’ve written a lot about on this site. But this broadens the presentation to use another person. 

You can read about it in his gift to you below. A trick called Head to Head.

If you like this, I definitely recommend checking out his books Scripting Magic 1 and 2. You may also want to look at the PM Card Marking System for more of his thinking. All of these are available at Vanishing Inc.

Jerx Christmas - Alvo Stockman - 6:48 PM

I’m really excited. The girl I’ve been seeing the past few weeks just showed up. She grew up in this area. She’s home for the holidays, but now she’s a hot-shot lawyer in Philadelphia. While me… I’m just an overall-wearing, plain-speaking, ruggedly handsome guy who enjoys the simple pleasures. I’m trying to teach her not to let life pass her by. We’ve made hot cocoa, had a snowball fight, and watched the elementary school’s Christmas pageant in the town square. She’s really loosening up and becoming that joyful girl she once was.

Everyone is saying our relationship is like a Lifetime Channel Christmas movie. 

I guess it kind of is. 

I hope she continues to fall for me and starts to really trust me. Then I can turn this relationship into another type of Lifetime movie.

Right after my girlfriend walked in, I spied a face I hadn’t seen in a while… Alvo Stockman!

I walked over to and asked him what he had been up to recently. He said, “The biggest project I've been working on the last few years was DragonScale.  I took time to patent it, get it FCC and CE certified, trying to "do it right" which takes much more than a year, and strangely all in the last 3 months a few other scales came out all at once.  Each of them looks like one of our early prototypes.”

“No, no, no,” I said. “That’s what your alter-ego, Acar Altinsel, owner of Penguin Magic, is doing. I want to know what Alvo Stockman is doing”.

Do you know who Alvo Stockman is?

Whenever anyone asks me if there are any other books I can recommend that are similar to the informal style of casual magic I write about frequently, my usual answer is, “No. I wish there was.”

But 15 years ago, Alvo Stockman did release a few effects that likely influenced me more than I knew. They were tricks that often took place hanging out casually, perhaps in a coffee shop. And the methods didn’t prioritize “pocket management” or “reset time.” 

He had one trick where part of the method involved going to the bathroom and burning a mix CD during the middle of. It was right up my alley.

I think you will see a similar overlap in our thinking with the gift he brought tonight. I’ve often written about the idea of messing with people’s minds by playing with their understanding of how magic tricks work. Most people think magic is either sleight-of-hand, or a trick deck-of-cards or something like that. So, sleights or gimmicks. And they think that, because…well, it’s true. A lot of magic is those things. The problem is, that causes people to just write off the tricks they see as being one of these mundane solutions. “I don’t know how it was done, but it was just sleight-of-hand.” “That’s some kind of special coin, I bet.” That’s their solution. By playing around with their understanding of magic methodologies, you can force them to consider a more “magical” world beyond “sleights and gimmicks.”

Alvo’s gift will help you do that. It’s a concept he calls Dupes. Dupes are fake magic instructions that go along with real magic tricks. You print them out and you can read from them as you do the trick or just leave them around to be found. So maybe you vanish a coin for someone sometime, and later on they find the instructions that come with the coin vanishing gel you bought. “That’s how it’s done?” 

In the attached pdf you’ll find a few different “Dupes” and at the end he describes the actual tricks they go along with. 

Click the package below for Alvo’s gift…

Jerx Christmas - Dan Harlan - 6:20 PM

There was a raucous noise coming from the other room and I was wondering what it could be. When I got there, there was a group of two dozen kids surrounding Dan Harlan.

Apparently he had made the mistake of showing them a couple of different tricks and now they weren’t letting him leave. 

I thought it was cute, at first, but now Dan is looking a little scared. He’s teaching them all how to make paper snowflakes and he seems to be laughing, but he keeps silently mouthing, “Get me the hell out of here,” to me over the kids’ heads. 

Oh well, I’m sure he’ll be fine. 

If you’d like to be a hit with kid’s at your Christmas gathering, Harlan has the perfect gift for you here…

If you don’t know, Dan is working on an extensive project to catalog all the magic he’s created in a three book series over the next six years. After which, he can die in peace. He gives the details at the end of that video, or you can read more about it here. 

Jerx Christmas - Andi Gladwin - 5:52 PM

I was carrying around a tray of pigs-in-a-blanket where I bumped into David Jonathan. He’s telling me he’s going to do a late-night lecture for the magicians who are here about his approach to creating magic. I’m looking forward to that. 

When I was saying goodbye to him, I saw Andi Gladwin.

I was like, “Andi, how’s it going! What have you been up to?”

And he mentioned his new show, Shuffled, which is a great concept for a show.

Then I was like, “Where’s Josh?”

And he goes, “Josh who?”

And I’m like, “Joshua Jay.”

And he looks around really dramatically and says, “Not here, I hope!” and punches me in the shoulder.

And I go, “What are you talking about? Isn’t he, like, your best friend or something?”

And he literally spit baked brie out of his mouth—like the idea was so ridiculous.

“I can’t stand that guy. He’s a total turd.”

So here’s some hot gossip. Apparently Josh’s mom pays Andi $40 a week to be Josh’s friend. She’s been doing it with people since Josh was a kid. Andi despises him. 

Weird huh?

Anyway in this gift from Andi there is a cool phase you can incorporate into a 10 Card Poker Deal.

Jerx Christmas - Matt Baker - 5:24 PM

It’s fully dark out now and the snow is falling. Guests are still arriving. The house is really beginning to fill up. I decided to take a break and dive into everyone’s winter coats which are piled up on my bed, and when I was leaving the room I ran into Matt Baker.

I told Matt that it looks like some of the other magicians have brought a present to share on my site and I asked him if he had anything he wanted to give.

“Sure, tell them if they go to my website and order my book Buena Vista Shuffle Club, and use the code JERX20, that will get them 20% off the book.”

I was like, “That’s really kind, Matt, thanks. But… you know…. a lot of the people reading my site probably already have your book. We wouldn’t want to leave them out.”

And he said, “I know but… I’m sort of trying to save some of my new stuff for my next book. So I don’t have anything to give. I was actually just working on it before I came here. It’s on my laptop in my car.”

So I broke into his car and stole this off his laptop. It’s a trick I first learned in Matt’s Masterclass. I think it’s a great “Shuffled Deck In Use” type of trick. The way Matt does it, he ends up reading the mind of the spectator at the end. The way I do, I’ve predicted a card they will select. I’ve added my notes (from an old newsletter) to Matt’s write-up so you can see how I use it. Either way, it’s the sort of method that a layperson would never stumble onto (or most of your magic friends, for that matter).

If you like this sort of thing and you don’t have Matt’s book, definitely take advantage of that promo code. He’s going to need some money to repair his car window. Click below for Matt’s “gift.” 

Jerx Christmas - John Guastaferro - 4:56 PM

I was greeting some of the new arrivals when I heard some acoustic guitar music coming from the other room. A beautiful rendition of Oh, Christmas Tree. I went in the other room and saw John Guastaferro, acoustic guitar in hand, tickling the nylon.

We got to chatting and I asked him what he had going on in 2024 and he said he’s doing a combination lecture and TED talk at Magifest in January. And he has a new book coming out with Vanishing Inc., called “The Nth Degree.” It’s a follow-up to his previous book One Degree.

“What about you?” John asked.

“Oh,” I said, “I have a new book coming out too. It’s called The X Degree. Your ‘one degree’ philosophy says that small changes can have a big impact on a trick right?” He nodded. “Well, what I’m going to do is take your new book and add a small change to each trick and republish it as my book. In magic, we say that you can publish your own version of a trick if you’ve changed it significantly. And you say small changes can have a significant impact. Hence, by your own philosophy, I only have to make some small changes and I can publish it as my own. Sorry. Those are your rules, not mine.”

He seemed frustrated by this, but couldn’t deny the brilliance of my logic.

“What kind of small changes would you make?” he asked.

“Well, show us some tricks and I’ll tell you,” I said. 

“Here's my X-Degree change for that trick,” I told John:

I'd have the red aces in the box at the start of the trick. Then I'd scan through the deck in front of the audience to "get a general idea for where the aces are." Then I'd be like, What the heck?? And scan though the deck again. "Hmm... sorry, this deck is missing the red aces." I'd pick up the card case and look in. Shake my head. "This is crazy...," I'd say as I remove the aces. "Have you ever been stuck in a time loop?" I'd do Tilt to get one red ace under a black ace and put the other red ace on top, and then do a series of shuffles and cuts while I say, "This keeps happening to me. But no worries. It's ok. Uhm... sorry... okay, let me show you the trick. From this shuffled deck I will find the aces."

Cut to the black aces and put them in the box as you do. "And now the red aces." The black aces are produced. Confusion. A quick scan through the deck. Then pull the red aces from the box, "Have you ever been stuck in a time loop?"

“What else you got?” I asked him.

“Shoot,” I said, “that’s a hard one to add much to because it’s so simple. I like it. The sound element is a nice. Michael Weber does something similar in a trick in Lifesavers, but I like passing off the edge of the coin as the end of the spoon visually as well. My X-degree change, if I found myself doing it often, would be to look for an amorphous blob or chunk of metal to use in place of the nickel. That way it's not exactly a "vanish" but the coffee melted the spoon down to this little chunk. Of course, that makes it no longer impromptu. But then again, I rarely have nickels on me either. So I'd probably have to make a point of bringing something with me either way.

“Hit me with another one,” I said.

“I know that may seem like just a silly bit of business,” I told him, “but I love stuff like this. In fact, when something seems really silly, I think that's the time to do it completely straight-faced. Not tongue in cheek at all. People know from the premise that it’s not serious, so you’re free to take it as seriously as you want. My X-Degree changes would be to make it so the "wrong" card is signed with some name like: Quargon-14. ‘Damn... it's okay. This happens. Sometimes there's a fold in space-time and the card get crossed up with someone else performing the same trick in a different dimension.’ Again… not said in jest, just matter-of-factly. Then I'd grab my trans-dimensional hyperspace antenna (conveniently on a nearby shelf) and ‘correct’ the situation. I'd never refer to it as a Slinky. If anyone else did, I'd be like, ‘A slinky? No, no. The guy who sold me this charged me $1400 for it. So it's clearly not just a Slinky. Unless I'm some kind of major dope.’"

John liked the idea. In fact, he said, “Okay, you have my permission to publish your book The X-Degree that is 98% my book The Nth Degree, coming soon from Vanishing Inc.” Nice!

This party is off to a great start!

Jerx Christmas - Michael Weber - 4:28 PM

Oh, this is fun already. The first group of guests included a lot of parents and their kids (the kids are having a huge sleepover in the basement while we get rowdy tonight). Their arms were overflowing with gifts and bottles of booze and crockpots with appetizers warming inside.

And then, who should I see stumbling in at the back of the group but Michael Weber and Tim Trono.

“You’re here early,” I told them.

“A lot of people are proud to close down a party, but we like to get that shit ramped up. Whoooooo!!!!” Tim said, and it was clear they had already been drinking. 

“Come on in,” I told them and Michael shoved a gift in my hands. 

The wrapping paper was torn and I could see that inside it was a box of “Jumbo Sized” condoms. 

“Oops, I guess I accidentally ripped it. That’s not the only thing I’ll be ripping tonight!” Weber said. I don’t know what that meant really, but Trono high-fived him.

“Here, let me fix that,” he said, taking the gift back. He pressed his hand against the package and said a prayer to Santa Claus, and when he removed his hand, the wrapping was healed.

“You think you can use that gift?” he asked.

“Uhm… oh yeah. Sure. Of course. I can just about squeeze into a jumbo-sized one, I think.”

Michael gave me a look and just shook his head. “Here, I’ll fix that too,” he said, and gestured toward me and said another prayer to Santa. 

Then he and Tim stumbled off to get some eggnog. 

What had he done? I took a peek in my underpants to see if he had “fixed” me in that way, but sadly, everything looked the same. I figured it hadn’t worked.

But then I opened up the gift and saw that it had magically changed to a box of “Trojan Little Gentleman’s Petite-sized Condoms.” Just my size!

As a gift to you, Weber and Trono have a way for you to perform a similar trick in your own home. Just click the package below. There’s a password for this, but it’s an easy one if you read the site. What’s the term in the Jerx vernacular for Michael’s prayer to Santa? In other words, the presentational thing that “causes” the magic to happen. (The thing that I say “snapping” is a bad example of.) That three-letter word, lowercase, is the password.