Monday Mailbag #28
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Just FYI, the day I run out of mail-related gifs is the day I stop doing the mailbag posts which is also the day I shut-down the site and the day I kill myself because why even bother without mail gifs?
After reading today's post [Last Friday’s post] I performed a bare-boned version of Sort of Psychic to a friend tonight. It went over really well, so thanks for pointing it out.
I don't know what your presentation is for this trick, but I think it would be interesting to frame the guessing part as a process of 'tuning' your spectator. After each guess, you would calibrate whatever the apparent method is for the final act of cutting to his card. You could change the settings of a robotic glove, or maybe press different spots on his head if you go for a presentation involving phrenology.
Okay, this may sound irresponsible, but if it can be done completely safely, it would be fun to sting acupuncture needles in his neck or his hand. If he guesses correctly, you insert another needle in his hand, and if he's wrong you remove or readjust a needle you've already put in him. And you make a big deal about making him sense where is card is.
I have a friend who's knowledgeable about acupuncture, I'll ask him if there are spots on your hand where you can easily sting needles without any pain, nor any chance of damaging your friend's Qi. I'm not sure I'll ever perform something like this, but it's always good to know that it can theoretically be done. —IM
Yes, you’ve nailed exactly how I present this, as a “tuning” of the spectator.
The first round (with the three piles) is just a quick “baseline assessment” of their natural ability. Then the next three rounds will involve their guesses under different conditions (if I’m doing a phrenology presentation, for example, then it would be three different head pressure locations).
Regardless of how well or poorly they do, those phases will allow me to “triangulate” the perfect condition for the final test (which, of course, they will ace).
And I love the idea of using acupuncture needles. I can’t imagine it can actually do any harm to put the needles in lightly somewhere. But don’t take this as me saying you should do it.
By the way, here’s one more tweak for Sort of Psychic. There’s one less-than-ideal situation that can arise, and that’s where the spectator’s card is always on the top of the same packet each round. This will happen 1 in 8 times, and it doesn’t look great because it makes your mixing seem questionable. To prevent this from happening, after the first guess between the two piles, give the pile that does have your spectator’s card in it a shuffle or cut before assembling the piles. This way if the spectator’s card was on top, it no longer is and won’t be the next round.
So, 12 years ago here in Brazil, a priest had a crazy idea to raise money for some temple or something.
He then performs Blaine's Ascension, but with the balloons attached to a chair. He flies off, disappearing into the sky. The only news from him after that was a telephone call asking for help.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adelir_Ant%C3%B4nio_de_Carli
And that's the story. He died. Later his body was found. At least the lower half of it.
It's kind of a tragic story that begins like a joke and ends like a gory movie. —RD
That’s legitimately terrifying. For some reason the phone call is the spooky part to me.
It would have been cool if Blaine bumped into the rotting upper-half of his corpse up there during his stunt last week.
I am learning a routine where I reveal the spectator’s card but I don’t want to just name their card.
I was just wondering do you have any post on your blog for interesting ways to reveal the spectator’s card that takes the magic off the performer. —CE
I don’t know that I have a specific post about this. The problem is, when you’re revealing someone’s card, you’re revealing something essentially meaningless to them. It’s not like revealing a word or a name, which is much easier to frame as having some other meaning beyond you just showing off. So you’ve kind of set yourself up to do something “magician-centric” the moment they select a playing card in the first place.
That being said…
You could reveal it through “automatic writing.”
You could pretend to call your “friend who has psychic powers” and reveal the card by allowing the spectator to overhear your half of the conversation. “So, you think it’s a red card? He thinks it’s a red card, is that right? Ok, yeah, that’s right. What about the suit? He thinks it a Heart.” Etc, etc.
You could reveal it with a Ouija board.
You could read a letter your grandma sent you before she died that reveals the card at the end. If it’s a freely selected card and not a forced one, you have all the time in the world to nail-write something in as you read the letter. And if it’s shaky and looks like shit, blame it on your grandma’s failing motor skills.
You could pray to Jesus and ask him to let you know what the card was through his divine power. “Jesus said it was the 7 of Diamonds… What’s that?… It was the 6 of Diamonds? Huh. Well he was pretty close, you have to give him that.”
The question is really what type of story do you want the trick to tell and/or what type of story would the person you’re performing for be interested in hearing. When you answer those questions, that will guide you towards how you might want to reveal the card.