Mailbag #33

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Did you see Ellusionist’s “big” announcement? —JP

I did.

Listen, no matter how inconsequential you thought that announcement was going to be, Ellusionist managed to make it more so.

If you didn’t catch it, the big announcement was pretty much that they redesigned their site and gave it a black background.

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And that’s because “a black site evokes mystery, secrecy, and power.”

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As an Ellusionist fan, I feel bad that this was the best idea they had to celebrate 20 years in business. It’s too insignificant to even make fun of, unfortunately.

You mention peek wallets frequently in your work. I wanted to know, what is your go-to wallet/handling. And what is your go-to reason for having the information written down and placed in the wallet. —KG

Okay, my go-to wallet is this peek wallet from Secret Tannery. I’ve bought a lot of peek wallets, and the Jaks style of wallet may be the least clever of them all, but I find it to be the most useful, most deceptive, and offer the most handling options. And it’s essentially examinable. I’ve bought some wallets with very ingenious peeks built in, but I never use them.

My go to handling is to return the card to the wallet while I’m mostly looking away. Fold the wallet with the peek on the outside of the wallet (head still turned away). And then get the peek as I ask someone to hold out their hand and I place the wallet in their palm. And then I have them place their other hand on top.

I don’t justify the writing or placing the card in the wallet. If I do, then it would be a trick-specific justification, not a general one. But more often than not, I don’t say anything about that part of the procedure. My reasoning as to why I don’t can be found in this post

Apparently, the iridium flares ended last year. Only now that i was thinking of doing something else i noticed.

Are there any other kind of satellites you have found you are able to use for magic? (Thats a phrase I didnt think I would ever say) —JFC

Sadly, I don't know of anything else that works. You might be able to use the International Space Station, depending on if it matches the look you're going for.

What JFC is referring to is a trick that appeared in the JAMM #6. It’s one of the strongest tricks I’ve ever done (or that anybody has ever done). But sadly the satellites that allowed for the effect to happen have been decommissioned, so it doesn’t work anymore. In the trick you make a shooting star appear (or a moving pixel in the simulation, in an even more mindfucky variation I wrote about). And what made it so strong is that the spectator seemingly determined where the star would appear.

I still use the forcing procedure from that trick (which forced a certain area of the sky) for other purposes, but nothing quite that strong.

If you’re interested in reading about the trick just to see what you once could do, I’ve excised the trick from that issue and you can read it here.