Mailbag #130

Here’s a new one for you. Tonight I performed Petty’s Big Blind effect for the third time. It went down a treat and I was pretty happy with the performance and the reaction. My friend’s wife asked if she could take a picture of the poker chips after the final revelation. [The final revelation being that the card the spectator thinks of is embossed on the back of the poker chips.]

15 minutes later she shows me the video of Craig Petty on youtube exposing the trick. She had done some sort of AI object recognition search, learned the name of the trick and then found the exposure video from there. Do you see any way around this? —VT

Well, I have bad news for you. We are just at the infancy of this sort of thing. The situation you ran into is still relatively rare. But it’s going to skyrocket in the next couple of years, I think. In every facet of life where people are telling themselves, “I don’t understand this” or “I don’t know what this is,” they’re going to be taking pictures of the things involved and searching for more information online. This is not something they will just be doing for magic tricks, they’ll be doing it for everything, including magic tricks.

Ways around this? Yes and no.

1. If you don’t let them take a picture, then they’re not going to have something to run a search on. But if you say, “Don’t take a picture of these poker chips!” that’s going to come as sociopathic.

2. For this particular trick, if you vanished the chips at the end, you would be in a situation where there wasn’t anything to take a picture of. But vanishing the chips might not make sense with your presentation.

3. More generally, choose tricks from books, magazines and multi-trick downloads. Avoid individual releases and tricks with specific-looking props that are searchable based on their image.

   I know someone else who did a recent poker chip trick and someone they performed for just typed “poker chip” + magic in youtube, then sorted by date and found out the exact trick and how it was done. This is just the nature of commercially released individual effects. They’re going to be easier to discover because, in some ways, the creators want them to be discovered. Not by the audience, necessarily, but by other magicians who are interested in the trick.

4. Search for tricks that engage people on a level that goes beyond fooling them. While Big Blind is a strong trick, “I knew what card you would name,” or, “I influenced you to name that card,” are not very charming premises. A strong trick with a magician-centric premise is the most likely type of trick to be searched by a layperson. So if you want to do such a trick, find one without a digital footprint.

5. Perform for older people who are less likely to take a picture in the first place, and then less likely to do a visual search of that picture. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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Wanted to thank you for the amazing season of content. Loved the cigarette magic arc (to name one) and the newsletters content was s-tier, as always.

More specifically, wanted to thank you for your post on "Carefree Magic". It was really the breakthrough of the year, really got to the essence of your performance style. But it also had a pivotal effect on me: I'm pretty sure I've 5x-ed my performance frequency since I've started applying it (+rotational houses) to my own repertoire. It removes so much friction and makes it much easier to contextualize the experience we're going after. Super powerful. So thanks :)—IM

Thanks. I don’t normally post complimentary emails on the site (because who really cares besides me). But I do want to highlight the Carefree philosophy as being the most impactful on me (and a number of others, from what I’ve heard).

Someday I may roll everything together and make a small book out of it where I think it will have a bigger impact. As of now, it’s a bit spread out throughout the posts and I think it takes a little bit of effort to understand the overall philosophy. Especially because it impacts the tricks I do, how I do them, what I carry with me, the premises and environments I look to perform in and so much more. I think a lot of people saw the word Carefree and easily picked up on one element of what I was saying, but perhaps not all of it. I’ll try to come up with a way to present all of it together at some point because it has made the most profound difference for me in my magic life.

Dustings #119

Ooh boy. This past week has been a little weird. Coming off a month of long days working on the next book, I feel like my internal metronome is completely screwed up. When you’re working 12-14 hours a day on something, and then you go back to a more standard “work day” it feels like you’re on a break. Even when you’re not at all on a break. Like, I woke up Monday and felt like I should be wearing this shirt:

But in reality, I had a full normal week of work ahead of me. It was weird.

At any rate, thanks for your patience during my month off.

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My favorite artist, Mort Künstler, passed away this week at a hearty 97 years old. That link goes to an old post where I put up some of my favorite of his works.

Coincidentally, Mort’s art is the inspiration for the next book cover which is going to be dope.

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The new edition of Magic: The Complete Course by Joshua Jay is out now. If you know of a beginner in magic (or just like beginner magic books yourself) this is a good, modern introduction to the subject.

And it will look less embarrassing on your shelf than the original cover.

Poor Josh. It’s got to be rough when the publishing company is like, “Hey, you know what’s no longer a selling point for this book? Your fucking face.”

I’m bummed too because I actually took that photo for the original cover. It was a weird day. Josh was in a terrible mood. We shot for hours, but nothing really popped. Finally, I said, “Josh, I want you to imagine this. Andi Gladwin is in front of you and just dropped his deck all over the floor. He’s bending over to pick it up and his fat ass is right in your face.” Immediately, the sparkle was in Josh’s eyes and his hands went into that “gimme, gimme” position. The rest, as they say, is history.

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Speaking of JJ. I have no idea why I bought the URL

joshuajaysdicksmells.lol

last year and had it redirect to Vanishing Inc.

But regardless, I’ve been informed this will only work for a couple of more days. I won’t be paying $31.16 to keep this going. So update your bookmarks!

What Else?

I recently taught a friend of mine my version of Sum Total by Larry Becker (this isn’t something that’s released yet). If you don’t know that trick, it’s one where your friend writes down a string of numbers, and that string of numbers just happens to be the total of four 4-digit numbers you showed them earlier. (At least, in the version I do it’s four 4-digit numbers, I’m not sure if that’s what it is in the original.)

In my version, the general premise is that you do something to the other person that briefly gives them incredible mathematical abilities.

After he tried the trick out on another friend of ours, she said something that sort of tripped him up.

She said, “Wait… seriously? Did I just do that?”

I get this kind of question a lot. I think people know I’m not going to just lie to them, so they think maybe by asking the question straight-out that I will relieve them the burden of the mystery of what just happened.

In this situation, what I usually see magicians do is one of two things.

1. They immediately cave. “Did that really just happen?” “Ah, no. It’s just a trick.”

2. They make a joke of it. “Did that really ust happen?” “It sure did! Now let’s go to Vegas and have you count some cards!”

My recommendation when someones starts questioning the reality of the experience is just to ask questions in return.

“Did that really just happen?”

“What do you mean?”

“Did I really just add those numbers together…like, subconsciously?”

“What else could it be?”

“I don’t know. But is it some kind of trick or something?”

“How would that work?”

“What do you mean?”

“Like, how would a trick like that work? How could you make someone write down the exact number that was the sum of four other numbers by a trick?”

At this point, they’re either going to be stuck for an answer, or they’re going to give you some kind of option that makes a little bit of sense.

If they point out some way in which it could be a trick, and their speculation makes sense, then that just gives you one more thing to account for the next time you perform that trick. So their conjecture should help you make the trick even stronger.

That’s my basic approach to things. When they ask if something really happened, my first reaction is to say, “What else could it be?” And if they suggest trickery I turn it around on them and ask them how it would work. Just ask questions.

Rough Draft: Sugarclipped

Last month, while working on the next book, I spent a lot of time in coffee shops procrastinating. This idea came out of that.

It’s essentially a sugar packet switch that’s based on Jay Sankey’s Paperclipped. But without a paperclip.

You have a sugar packet with the top torn off in left-hand finger palm.

You have your friend choose a sugar packet from the table (or wherever) and you take it from them in your right hand.

You place it on top of the prepped packet in your left hand and start to tear off the top with your right fingers.

When it’s 80% torn off, pause and say something. Return to the packet to finish tearing off the top. But in the action of plucking off the top portion, you actually pull away the entire packet and push up the pre-torn packet from your left fingertips.

What could you use this for?

Hmmm…

You could have a folded card in the prepped packet, so it’s like their chosen card magically appears in the packet they gave you.

You could have a little index of prepped packets with colored sugar, and then have the sugar in their chosen packet change into their freely chosen color.

You could make someone’s vanished ring appear in a sugar packet.

You could have them give you two sugar packets of different colors. You make one disappear. Then tear open the other one to reveal the vanished one.

You could fill the prepped one with arsenic and then offer to sweeten your wife’s coffee and poison her.

Rehearsal as Presentation

One of the ways to get into a performance with the least amount of friction is to say:

“I have [some event where I’m expected to perform a magic trick] coming up. Can I try it out on you?”

This is just far more comfortable for most people. Especially for people you don’t know very well or people who haven’t seen you perform before.

Put yourself in their position. What if some guy said to you, “I’m going to show you some ventriloquism.” That might come off as a little weird. You might question how you’re supposed to respond to it. But if he said, “So, I signed up to provide entertainment at my nephew’s school carnival. I had to come up with a ventriloquism act. Do you mind if I run it by you? Just to rehearse it in front of someone?” Now, that situation is still a little unusual, but I think it’s far more palatable to most people.

In general, people are much more comfortable in a position where they’re asked for their feedback as opposed to one where they’re asked for recognition or praise (which is what, “Let me perform for you,” often comes across as).

The thing is, I’m not introducing the trick this way for my benefit. I don’t mind if someone thinks I’m corny because I want to show them a trick.

I’m introducing the trick this way because I want to put them in the most relaxed mindset they can be in to watch a performance. And if they don’t know me that well, then this indirect approach can help reframe the whole thing as a collaborative exercise rather than a plea for attention.

Here are some other examples.

• “My work does a talent show each year as part of a team-building exercise. I signed up to do a magic trick. Do you mind if I run it by you?”

• “My neighbor’s kid is having a birthday party. His parents know I used to do magic as a kid and asked if I’d perform something. I haven’t done it in a while, do you mind if I rehearse with you?”

• “My cousin’s getting married, and they asked me to do some close-up magic during cocktail hour. Can I get your thoughts on this one?”

• “This bartender at a place near me gives me a free drink if I can fool him with a little magic trick. I’ve burned through the few tricks I know, but I just learned a new one. Can I test it out on you first?”

• “I’m getting together with some friends from elementary school. Back then we used to have a magic club where we tried to learn tricks to fool each other. Now we’re in our 60s, and we’re getting together for one last meeting of the club. Can I try my new trick out on you?”

In general, I don’t use these sorts of intros on people I know well. Those people are already comfortable seeing magic from me. And I’d have to come up with a story that was believable with my everyday life. But when I’m traveling or in a situation where I’m spending time with someone I won’t be crossing paths with again, I can pretty much create any story I want. And yes, technically this is “lying.” Get over yourself. The world isn’t going to spin off its axis because you told someone you volunteered to perform a trick at your kid’s summer camp.

One intro I will use with people I know is that I’ve been asked to show a trick in some situation for kids. This is one of my favorite uses of Rehearsal as Presentation. It brings people’s guards way down. Then I can present a trick with a simple, child-centric premise that’s built on top of a really fooling method. Like predicting how they’ll choose to color an image. Or the name they’ll come up with for my stuffed dog. And because they don’t feel like you’ve challenged them to see if you can fool them—because you’re on the same “team”—they’re almost happy to be fooled. The feelings that are implied in the reactions I get to this type of presentation is: “Oh my god. I know that’s something you’re going to show kids. But honestly, that fooled even me!” Again, not in those exact words. But that’s the sentiment of their reaction.

I’ll be sharing a couple more specific uses of this technique, likely later this month.

Mailbag #129

(This won’t make sense if you’re not a supporter. You can skip to the next section.)

Yesterday’s newsletter was missing a link on page 18. I resent the link to everyone, but .mac and .me email addresses rejected that email for some reason (they don’t allow Notion links??). At any rate, here’s the link.

A couple of people wrote in to suggest I number the steps. I intentionally didn’t because I wanted it to feel “glitchier.” But I think they’re right. I think numbering the steps make it seem more clearly glitchier.

CC writes: Also, as a wacked-out set of instructions, it reads like something ChatGPT would produce. If I were to do this, that’s probably where I’d go. “I asked AI to explain how a particular trick was done, and this is what it gave me.  But it still works somehow.”

I think that’s a good idea too.

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Any thoughts on Ellusionist’s How To Read Minds kit for kids? I don’t want to be a gatekeeper but putting mentalism in the hands of kids feels like a bad idea. Your thoughts?—LO

An average 9-year-old can perform many magic tricks and most mentalism tricks. There’s nothing to prevent them from technically performing a strong trick. So why shouldn’t kids get good tricks too?

This logic is like saying, “My neighbor’s 10-year-old has started menstruating, so why shouldn’t she get impregnated and raise a kid?”

Oh, Andy, you’re being ridiculous. There’s no comparison.

No, I’m making a pretty direct comparison here. Just because someone is old enough to technically do something doesn’t mean they’re capable of doing it well, competently, or in a manner that contributes something to the world.

What if I said, “I have a kit to teach kids how to cook. But we don’t use simple meals like grilled cheese and scrambled eggs. We have kids cook scallops and Wagyu beef.” You’d (correctly) think I was an idiot because it doesn’t make a ton of sense to waste quality “ingredients” with someone who hasn’t mastered something simpler first.

The magic in kid’s magic kits shouldn’t be good.

Why?

Because kids aren’t capable of presenting magic well.

But, Andy, I saw this 10-year-old on America’s Got Talent and—

Bup-bup-bup. Yes. I’ve seen kid magicians. They’re terrible. They are, at their best, as good as average adult magicians. And average adult magicians are terrible.

That’s okay. I’m not trying to be mean or condescending. Kids aren’t good at magic just like they’re not good at most other things. Why would they be? They’re kids. This is the point in their life when they’re learning and growing.

Do we want to watch kids mumble and muddle their way through good tricks?

A “professional level” trick won’t elevate a kid’s magic performance. The kid will just drag the trick down. People will think, “Oh, it must be some dumb thing even a kid can do.” What else could they think?

Also, what will they think if they see an adult do a similar trick in the future? “Oh, I remember that trick. That kid at the bowling alley showed it to me before he ate his boogers.”

It’s not that kids are being held back by the shitty tricks in kid’s magic kits. There’s just little point in wasting good tricks on a population who generally:

• Would be just as happy with a floating matchstick or a ball and vase.

• Might not even be that interested in magic or only have a fleeting interest.

• Has not yet developed the skills to disguise and elevate powerful methods.

Think of effects like stories. A good magic trick is like a story with a strong twist at the end. Kids are notoriously bad storytellers. Do you think the answer is to give them better stories to tell when they don’t have the understanding, nuance, emotional intelligence, and life experience to tell them effectively? Is that good for the kids, the audiences, or the art of storytelling?

“No, I don’t need to see The Sixth Sense. Timmy here just told me about it. So, like, the doctor guy was dead and stuff? That’s neat.”

I’m sure there are some precocious kid magicians who could make the most of stronger magic tricks, but that’s not who magic kits are made for. They’re made for your typical dummy.

And this kit, in particular is feeding off a parent’s fear that their kid is a total loser with no friends. “Watch your kid transform into the coolest kid in school,” the ad copy says.

Ah yes, what’s do kids find “cooler” than walking around with a copy of the 130-year-old Rudyard Kipling classic, The Jungle Book. Kids today just can’t stop reading it between sessions of pushing a hoop around with a stick.

(Look, I get it, you needed something in the public domain to create a gimmicked book out of. Just take an afternoon and use AI and write one that sounds like something a modern kid might be interested in, like Ghosts Don’t Text Back; or The Weird Kids Club; or Chrono City: The Town That Time Forgot, the first book in the Secret Files of the Nexus Voyagers series.)

Look this kit isn’t going to make your kid popular. Sorry. Your kid is a dork. And no amount of magic pencil cases is going to change that. In fact, this kit might get his ass kicked more than it was already.

To wrap this up, while I feel the idea for this kit is based on a false premise (that a kid’s magic kit needs to have professional level tricks), I’m not overly concerned about the impact it will have. Hardly anyone will buy this garbage and it will be forgotten about in months.

January Daily Check-In

Jan. 31st - It’s over. See you all back here on the 3rd.

Jan. 30th - Joshua Burch knows there’s no better way to say, “I may be a magician, but no, I’m not a convicted sex criminal,” than by casually flashing his GLOMM membership card in performance.

Jan. 29th - Winding down on book #8.

Jan. 28th - In this video, Craig Petty predicts that I will unmask myself (or will be unmasked) this year. I can tell you now his prediction is half-right.

Jan. 27th - This magic poop sounds a lot like my penis.

It’s soft. It’s hard. It melts (hearts). And shatters (conventional notions of how beautiful a cock can be).

Plus, I pretty much only use it to relieve stress and play gross tricks.

Jan. 26th - It’s impossible for a Craig Petty release to not have some drama in its associated Café thread. (As someone who enjoys the drama, that’s great. But I’m sure Craig has got to be like, WTF?)

Jan. 25th - It’s called “Cups & Balls” and it’s about a close-up magician and private investigator named Jonathan Cups who must go undercover in Miami’s gay gigolo scene to find the man who murdered the governor. The only thing known about this mysterious male prostitute is that he has one testicle. While the right man can be identified with a simple squeeze, there are 732 male gigolos in Miami, and Jonathan Cups needs to start working his way down the list. To get the job done, he must hire or seduce his way through all the suspects so he can get a hand on their scrotum to find the elusive “one-testicled man.” The most difficult part of all of this, as Jonathan repeatedly tells his girlfriend, is that he’s “not gay.” Tell that to your erection, Jonathan.

Cups & Balls
If he doesn’t want to blow his cover… he’s going to have to blow his load.

The book will be out late May.

And, excitingly, a 12-part series will be streaming on Tubi for the holiday season.

Jan. 24th - There are no tricks in this new book I’m writing. It’s just magic-based erotica.

Jan. 23rd - One week left.

BTW, next month’s newsletter is probably going to be a disjointed mess. Since the newsletter covers the stuff I’ve been using the previous month, and this month, I haven’t done much performing at all. I still have some stuff I want to write about, but it won’t be the typical structure. If this is your first issue, just know it’s usually more composed than this coming issue.

Jan. 22nd - It’s official. We’re all getting put in Tannen’s Magic Internment Camps.

Jan. 21st - On his first full day in office, Trump gave an executive order that magic is no longer an art, reversing this. Sad.

Apparently this is the first step towards putting magicians in camps. Scared.

Jan. 20th - In this Cafe thread, there seems to be a question about terminology. I’m here to help…

If you say a trick can be done with a “borrowed” deck, that means someone can hand you a deck, and then you can go into the trick. At most, you may need to move around a few cards as you casually spread through the deck.

Saying something can be done with a “borrowed” deck doesn’t mean you borrow a deck and then go off somewhere and do something with it. If that was the case, then pretty much any trick could be done with a “borrowed.” The Invisible Deck can technically be done with a borrowed deck if you bring a roughing stick and lock yourself in the bathroom for 15 minutes.

If you’re trying to say there are no gimmicks involved, then the phrase you’re looking for is that it uses a “normal deck,” meaning, “no gimmicked cards.”

Also, if you say in your ad that the deck can be “shuffled completely,” that means as much as the spectator wants, in any manner.

I have no clue if the person using those terms is using them incorrectly. I’m just clarifying because there is seemingly some confusion about what they mean.

Jan. 19th - Checkmate, people who say magic isn’t an art.

Jan. 18th - My car is doing this thing where, like, 1% of the time the brakes don’t work. It’s not ideal for northeast winters. Some would say it’s not ideal for anywhere at any time. But I think it’s kind of fun. Plus, I only have a couple more months on the lease for this car, so I’m going to ride it out.

(Note: If I slam into the back of a bus and die, do not go hounding my estate for “your book” or “your money back.” I had to explain this to someone recently. For supporters at the highest level, you’re not buying a super expensive magic book in installments. You’re supporting a site. The book is a gift for the Rich Uncle Millionaire-level supporters who have been on board for 18 months. But if you leave, or I leave, that’s just the end of the transaction. (This makes it sound like I’m planning to stop the site 17 months into some future season. That’s not the case. I just wanted to clarify because this is a point I haven’t made on this site in a few years.))

Jan. 17th - Nope. It doesn’t write itself.

Jan. 16th - Just hit the halfway point of book 8. The rest pretty much writes itself. (I’m hoping.)

Jan. 15th - If you’re waiting on an email from me, be patient. 🙏

Jan. 14th - Thinking about the “psychological force” of a “Rose” when asking for a flower. And the fact that magicians think this is a thing that would fool someone.

Here’s the thing… If you ask a friend to name a flower—in the context of magic or mentalism—and they say Rose, you have the most bland, basic bitch of a friend imaginable.

If they are then amazed that you predicted they’d name by far the most common flower in the world, then you have the dumbest, most bland, basic bitch friend imaginable.

Jan. 13th - RIP to Bish the Magish. A true character back in the MCJ blog days.

—Forty—

Jan. 12th - As of today, I switched from a Time Blocking-style of scheduling to using something called the Flowtime Technique. If you’re into productivity/scheduling things, you may want to check it out. I have a feeling it’s going to work better for me.

Jan. 11th - Today we entered the long-middle phase of book writing. I’m past the excitement of starting and nowhere near the anticipation of completion. But all is going well, except I’m so immersed in it that I’m dreaming about it, too. Last night I dreamt I completed the book and sent it off to the book printer. Then I realized I forgot to edit it. Then I realized I forgot to put the illustrations in. Then I realized I had only written up three tricks, and the rest of the pages were blank. And the logic of this dream was that there was nothing I could do to correct this issue, so I was going to be sending out a book with three tricks and a bunch of blank pages in it. I was like, “Oooohhhh… that’s not good.”

But I’ve always appreciated an unpleasant dream. I like anything that makes reality seem more pleasant.

Jan. 10th - The schedule for the Juxe is playlists coming out at the end of January, April, July, and October. That may change, but that’s what I’m thinking as of now.

Jan. 9th - If your name is Joseph R., and you’re a supporter, and you have a live.com email address, your email box is full.

Unfortunately, this is the only way I know to get a message to someone whose email box is full.

Jan. 8th - This was one of the best Christmas gifts I got this year.

It’s a digital camera without a screen on it. So there’s no seeing the pictures you take until you put them on your computer later. I brought it to a couple parties this holiday season where it was passed around. People seemed much more excited to take pictures of themselves, each other, their sexual organs, than they are when they can immediately see the results. Recommended.

Jan. 7th - I just got the first preliminary sketch for the next book cover. It’s going to be so good.

Jan. 6th - As of this month, Genii has a new editorial staff.

I have a cover story idea for them. Track down the old L&L audience and do a “Where Are They Now” type piece.

If not a cover story, then maybe a recurring small feature.

If not a recurring small feature, then maybe some sort of web exclusive.

If not a web exclusive, could you at least track down Diana and give her my number? I always had a thing for her.

Jan. 5th - I just met my Sunday deadline for the newsletter for supporters. You should see it in your email now.

With the holidays, I wasn't trying out as many new tricks this month, so this issue is a bit of a break from the normal format. It’s just an issue of Vegetarian Times. I hope you like sea vegetables.

Jan. 4th - I had a dream last night where a magician was trying to make his act more modern, so he changed his patter for the Ambitious Card and called it, “The Card With Rizz.”

Jan. 3rd - Support this site because you want to support the site. Not because you want to get the supporter reward book and then flip it. Supporting this site is not an investment. At least, it’s not a good investment. It’s Beanie Babies. Don’t let anyone convince you otherwise.

If you decide to support the site, do so based on this logic. And do it with the understanding of what I write in this post.

Btw, the full supporter slots that opened up over the course of this season will be made available to the people at the top of the waiting list at some point in the next 3 or 4 weeks.

Jan. 2nd - The moving holes look great. The part where you apparently punch the holes looks fake as shit.

“Let me just casually lay my palm across the card as I punch a hole.” That’s fine if you want to seem like you’re from Neptune. But to earthlings, it just makes the holes seem suspicious. Come up with a presentation where the card is already punched. Then you don’t have to do the fake-o hole punch part. And you don’t even need to have a hole punch on you.

Jan. 1st - It’s 2025. Take THAT, Zager & Evans! We did it! Man IS still alive. Woman—in fact—can survive.

What’s that? Oh… 2525? 500 years from now? Oh no. Of course humanity will be long dead by then. Well, regardless, happy New Year, everyone. While I’m working on the next book this month, I’ll be checking in here daily just to say hey.