Gardyloo #57
/On Wednesday I wrote about the old trick where you have a coin on your hand, you cover it with a napkin or a handkerchief, and it disappears. The method is that the audience is allowed to feel that the coin is still there right before it vanishes, and the last person to feel it's there is in on it and he steels the coin out from your hand.
If you want to take this to the next level, a little game you can do with your friends is have the person who steals out the coin also put something into your hand at the same time. The game is that you don't know what they're going to put in your hand, so you have to try and identify what it is, and then justify why the coin changed into it for the other spectators. It's part magic trick, part improvisation game, all stupid.
[You feel the item and think you've identified what it is.] "Do you know they charge 50 cents for pickles at the burger place down the street? I save money by changing my quarters directly into... gherkins!" [Whisk away handkerchief.]
That's an actual example. And I'd say that's probably one of the better justifications we came up with, believe it or not. It's not easy to come up with something in a second or two when someone has placed a button, a screw, or a used condom in your hand.
Here's a billion dollar idea for my hot female readership. Go take this and run with it and become the biggest magician since Merlin.
The idea? A slutty female mentalist who bills herself as:
Alakazam Magic has something called the Alakazam Online Academy which is pretty much their version of online magic lectures. The difference being that they are sometimes devoted to a specific subject, not just the general magic of the performer lecturing.
They're getting a little bit of shit on the Cafe because originally they said that the lectures would not be available for purchase after the live airing. You didn't have to watch it live (you could download it and watch it later) but you had to pre-order it.
Hey Andy, that's moronic.
Oh, I know. And if you had half a brain you would recognize it's a policy that wouldn't last. Why it was implemented in the first place is beyond me. But they've done away with that idea. Now anyone can buy it whenever. This has upset some early buyers who feel Alakazam used FOMO to get them to buy something they might have waited on otherwise. (You can close the Urban Dictionary tab you had open for "Thot." FOMO is Fear Of Missing Out. What? You can't keep up with my hip slang? Sorry, old man. Me and my 14-year-old bros are going to the park to dab to EDM and vape some Gogurt. Sayonara bitch! )
I'm going to try and save the people at Alakazam some time and energy going forward. Here is how they advertise their online academy.
Our Online lessons are broadcast live directly in to your Alakazam account so you will be able to ask questions in the chatroom and interact during the lesson
Spaces on each live course are limited to ensure as many questions as possible are answered during the live lesson via our integrated chat feature.
Do you know why Penguin and At the Table dumped having people from home "ask questions"? Because it sucked. All it did was slow things down and ruin the momentum of the event. It's like being in school where you're forced to learn at the pace of the dumbest kid in class. It's not a selling point.
99 time out of 100, if people have specific questions about what's transpiring, they could get the answer by replaying what they just watched. And if you're looking for general questions, then solicit them before the event so you can curate them and not have them lost amongst the terrible questions.
Do what Penguin does and put a knowledgable magician as host so if something is glossed over or accidentally unexplained, he can pause the proceedings and get more information about it. You don't need to open it up to everyone.
Of course, you'll soon realize that if you're not taking live questions you don't need to do the event live. Yup. Bingo. You don't. Save yourself the trouble.
You're eventually going to come to these conclusions anyway, I'm just trying to save you time.
Can you believe Bill Cosby was convicted of drugging and sexually assaulting women? Crazy. You never know who the real monsters are.
According to the prosecution, Cosby was an expert at drugging women's drinks. They say he could have only gotten that good under the tutelage of someone who is a master of deception and being around beverages. I'm not sure who they were referring to or what they meant by th--
Ohhhhhh noooooooooooooo...
(Thanks to JM for the pic.)
Do you know Bill Cosby's favorite magic gimmick?
