Gardyloo #5

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I'm traveling at the moment and working on a trick I've been planning for the past few months. It involves a series of color changing object -- including my clothing -- all done in a black and white hotel. Someday I may write up the story, although it may be one of those "you had to be there" type things.

D.D. wrote in to warn anyone that searches Workers 2 Michael Close, on ebay -- in the "more items related to" section -- they will get a lot of results for Gung Ho, and also a book which is decidedly not part of Michael Close's Workers series.

That is to say this one:

This erotic, gay, contemporary novel is NOT part of Michael Close's erotic, gay, contemporary set of magic books which features such modern gay classics as:

  • A Visit from Rocco
  • The Big Surprise
  • Butte Ox? Two Butte Ox!
  • Two For Simon
  • The Incredible Growing Toothpick

Don't get fooled. 

This may make me sound like an idiot, but what is the purpose of a false faro shuffle? I mean, a faro shuffle is an unusual looking shuffle (at least here in the US) that even the people who are great at it have to perform in an overly fussy way. The only reason we do it is because it's a perfect shuffle. So what would be the point of faking it? If you want to do a false shuffle you'd do a false regular-looking shuffle, right? I mean you want your false shuffle to look normal, so why would you fake a non-normal looking shuffle?

[Update: A number of people have written in to tell me the purpose of a false faro shuffle. It's so if you mess up the weave on your actual faro shuffle then you can "complete" it falsely -- instead of unweaving them and trying again. Which makes sense in a magic-y thinking kind of way. But here's the thing, you've already given up all pretense of a casual shuffle in the first place when you're doing a faro. You're probably better off shining a light on the fastidious-ness of the process like Paul Gertner does when he performs Unshuffled. Or stop being such a bitch about it and learn the tabled faro shuffle which actually resembles a real shuffle. Or do what I do and say, "Fuck that noise," and just do a deck switch when your spectator gets up to pay the pizza delivery guy.]

R.D. wrote in to make me aware of the following tweet. You have to feel for this guy. He's going to be soooooo embarrassed when he realizes what happened. You see, he only wanted to let everyone know about this great ventriloquist he saw at the Blackpool convention. But he wanted to give the tweet that "personal touch" by including a picture and making sure he took up 80% of the image. And apparently this idea hit him just as he was changing -- or maybe he had been masturbating to the DVD? -- I don't know. At any rate, he looks around his place for the best location to take a pic, does a few push-ups to get a pump, and casually shoots the picture. What he doesn't realize is he accidentally took the photo shirtless in front of his trophy case.

Oops!

Don't worry, Carl. This type of thing happens all the time. 

Did I tell you guys about my favorite ventriloquism DVD? It's How to Be a Ventriloquist by Paul Winchell. Here's me holding the DVD if you're curious about what the cover looks like.