Coming in MFYL: The Damsel Technique
/From the post, The Force Unleashed
The Damsel Technique: I'll probably write this up at some point next year. It's a tiny idea but one that can have a big impact. This was the technique I originally wanted to test when I went off to NYC. It can be used with almost any force (it works amazingly well with the cross cut force). In our testing we used it with the dribble force. We performed a standard dribble force for 11 people and their "fairness" rating was 54. We performed the same force with the Damsel technique for another 11 people and its fairness rating was 86. And it has applications beyond card forcing. You won't get all the details any time soon, but I mention it now just to whet your appetite. Y'all whet?
The update here is that I will not be posting this on the site. Why? Because I like it too much and I've found it to be super valuable. Not just for stronger card forces, but for all sorts of tricks where your spectator is forced to a particular outcome. I've used it with the Hoy book test and other mentalism effects. In fact, the technique originated in a Rubik's cube trick I was working on. So it has all sorts of applications.
The reason I'm not putting it on here is because it's something I want to save for paid supporters of the site, so it will be appearing in the 2018 supporters bonus book, Magic For Young Lovers.
If you're like, "What the hell... you said you were going to post that here and now you're not?" My response to you is: get fucked.
Here's the thing, the absolute most valuable stuff I've ever written about magic is available for free on this site. And that's the stuff about presentation style and amateur/social magic. I wish I had those insights at a much earlier age because they have completely transformed my performances and increased the spectator reactions and enjoyment by an order of magnitude. I would have paid a lot of money if someone had pushed me in that direction long ago. And all that's here free. So you can't say I'm holding out on you.
But at the same time, I need to reward the people who keep this site going. That's who I write it for. So the best tricks and some of the better techniques are going to be saved for them. That's just how it is.
I'm grateful for everyone who supports the site. And I have no issue with those who are indifferent to it or dislike it. But, "I don't think it's worth $20 a month to support the site and I demand you make every single thing you write available to me beyond the 150 essays and effects you make available for free every year" is not a position I find tenable.
I try to make sure everything is available at a reasonable price because I know I've been in situations when I was younger where money was tight. So even if you went for the highest level of support, that comes to $5 a week. And even when I was struggling I still had $5 per week that I could waste on something. So it feels fair to me.
Look, I could have followed this lady's approach and had a $10,000 per month reward level. At that reward level you can get yourself a non-nude video of her. $10,000 per month and you won't even get a single goddamned nipple, son.
For those of you who support me at the $20/month level you'll be getting full-frontal and my a-hole spread wide. Metaphorically, I mean. (Although for $10,000/month you can have it literally).