Until December... Help Wanted
/Hey all. This is the last post before our November break.
I try not to ask too much from the readers of this site, but today I’m going to make a request. This Christmas season I have a trick in mind that I’d like to perform for people who visit me. It will use Christmas cards. Like Christmas cards that I’ve received in the mail, not just blank ones. And the trick will be more impressive the more cards I have, so I’m calling on my Jerx-reading wingmen and women around the world and asking you to consider adding me to your holiday card list this year.
If you’d be down to do that, here are the details…
Just fill out the card as you normally would for anyone else on your list. Don’t mention this site, the Jerx, “your blog,” or anything like that. If you want to flesh it out with more details, feel free to get creative and just make stuff up.
“I’m really looking forward to getting together in Saint-Tropez next year!”
“I can’t believe this is the first year since 1995 that we didn’t do our beach weekend. I definitely could have used that!”
“The kids say hi, and they can’t wait to go bowling with ‘Uncle Andy’ again soon.”
That sort of thing. (But not that exact thing, or else everyone will do the same joke of writing those three sentences in the card.)
You can also just write “Merry Christmas” or whatever, and sign your name if you don’t want to make this a homework assignment.
Whatever you end up writing, it should ring true if someone were to pick up your card and read it. So don’t make it too obviously jokey. I mean, it can be funny (if that’s how you write). But it should come across as a real message.
[Update: Don’t worry too much about being funny or clever. I’d be more than happy with just a genuine holiday greeting. An update on how the family is doing. Picture of the kids. Whatever you would normally send out.]
Just refer to me as Andy.
Use this address when mailing:
Andy
PO Box 2026
Liverpool, NY 13089
That’s also the PO Box you can use if you have non-Christmas-card stuff to mail me as well. But if you’re sending me something magic related, it’s best to address it this way.
White Wand
PO Box 2026
Liverpool, NY 13089
Thanks to anyone who is able to help with this. You’re one of the good ones.
I found today's Fatal Attraction Hook very powerful and seductive, a terrific way to transition into an effect (and your personal story - very weird!). Thanks for sharing all of that!
One thought came to my mind:
After staging the whole set up and after performing the effect you decided, what if you have the feeling that the effect is not punchy enough?
In other words, don't you think there is a potential risk of setting the expectation very high - presenting an effect as a complete mindfucker that messed up someone's head?
You might not have an answer from experience, but I was just wondering how would you play this situation. —FB
Yeah, I understand the concern you’re getting at. But in this case, it’s not that much of an issue. Yes, you want a strong trick that is a real fooler, but it doesn’t have to be a “complete mindfucker.” Here’s why: When you tell the story, you pin the reaction of the trick on the subject of your story, not on the trick itself. You see? The person you’re telling the story about is a little odd, a little obsessed. You’re not necessarily saying that the trick was so powerful it made them act that way. You’re saying there was something strange about their reaction and how much it affected them.
In fact, when you set up the trick, feel free to talk it down a little.
So you don’t need to say, “And I showed him the most incredible trick in the world and it really blew him away.”
You can just say, “So we were hanging out and I just showed him this little trick to kill some time and he really freaked out over it. It was weird.”
Now, when you show your actual spectator the trick, hopefully they’re pretty amazed as well. But even if they’re not utterly blown away, it doesn’t undermine the story you told, because the story was about someone who was unusually taken by a trick.
I noticed something weird. When Josh Jay was a kid. 6 years old? 14? I don’t really know. He put out this book.
A book written for magicians. Tricks and theory that—while written by a young person—was aimed at an audience of people at least in their late teens, if not adults. It was a book for knowledgable magicians.
A decade or so later he put out this book.
A book suitable for kids and adults. And while there are plenty of tricks the seasoned magician might do from this book, it was really written for the general public.
After that came this book. A magic book for young kids.
And now, he’s pushing 50-years-old, and this is the book he has coming out next year.
What is going on? He’s like Benjamin-Button’ing himself publication-wise. He’s continually putting out books that are less and less sophisticated and aimed at a younger and younger audience. What’s his next release? One of those puffy, waterproof 4-page books for infants that they can chew on and take in the bathtub?
How much further can he regress? Who will be his next target audience? What’s the plan? Just smear feces on the wall in the shape of a bee? “This is my newest work, Poop Bee. It will appeal to babies of lesser intelligence and also dogs will like to lick it.”
Okay, that’s it for the November posts. For everyone in the U.S., have a great Thanksgiving. And I’ll see you all back here Dec. 1st.
