Monday Mailbag #68
/So penguin just sent an email out advertising Rick Lax and Justin Flom's new download. It's currently free but apparently the price will change to $150 in a week or so. That's probably a marketing strategy from Rick and Justin.
https://www.penguinmagic.com/p/17184
I thought I'd take a closer look because a few of the presentation ideas sounded a little familiar. On a quick skim throughout the download (which is over 2.5 hours long) the tricks seem pretty good and they seem to do a great job of explaining them all but... at times it feels they're just directly lifting from your work. They credit you several times in the video. In fact in every explanation of each effect you get credited so the whole video seems like an advertisement for your blog more than anything. Here are a few examples:
In Freakout, the presentation where Justin talks about "facebook magicians with fake videos and reactions" (no comment) and asks the audience to pretend to go hogwild for a video seems like it's taken from the James Lange Universal Presentation. The recording a video part seems like a similar ploy to version 3 in In Search Of Lost Time. The effect is essentially Chad Long's Shuffling Lesson (which is credited), but the reveal and twist feels very similar to The Shitshow from MFYL. Here they mention your Card Force Study.
Secret Noise Mind Control is basically Tiki and Ronde. I mean sure there's a difference with using bills and signed cards (oh and it's "grey noise" instead of "black noise") but it's essentially the same presentation and trick. Rick does mention and credit here though.
The Gypsy Love Test takes the premise of what seems to be The Harmony Ritual (Justin even says it's a Romanian ritual as well) and does Ben Earl's Red Herring (which Justin does credit). He talks about The Engagement Ceremony in this part and shows off his copy of Here Be Bunnies.
The Mob Boss Poker Deal seems to take a presentational style that feels similar to the one presented in Spectator Cuts To The Aces. Another mention to your blog is made here.
Red Black Fortune Telling is a presentation for out of this world but using the 1-2 separation from Lennart Green. They do credit you in this section for the use of the separation in an OOTW effect, but a lot of this feels like this takes a lot from A World Out Of Time from MFYL.
Now, if I were to take a guess as to why Justin and Rick made this download then it's probably to tell people how great your blog is (that and to try and sell some more penguin marked cards. Rick definitely wanted people to buy some penguin marked cards). I have no idea whether you're collabing with Rick and Justin on this project but Justin does say some nice things.
I'm not even sure why I wrote you this email. It's probably not a big deal and you've probably had several fans emailing you about this already, but I thought I'd let you know just in case. —EF
Okay, so this has been the big topic in my email box these past few days, understandably. I decided to print EF’s email because I thought it might be the most useful for anyone wanting to take a deeper dive into these effects. And it was the email I was most impressed with. I’m not sure I could have made/found those references if I had to. One bummer about constantly trying to come up with new material is that after I’ve polished a trick enough to publish it, I might not come back to it that often, even if I really like it. So it was cool to be reminded of some of these effects. It made me want to go through my own output again in the near future. I don’t know if that sounds masturbatory or not, but it was genuinely the feeling I had.
So yeah, let me paraphrase and answer the questions I got the most:
Was this a collaboration between you and Flom/Lax? Did you write this and have them perform it for you?
No. Although that’s a funny idea.
Are you Rick Lax or Justin Flom?
Nah, I’m Jibrizi.
Did you know this video was coming out?
Yeah. They wrote a month ago to ask if they could use some of my presentations in their download.
How do you feel about it?
I’ve only watched a couple of the performances so far. I enjoyed what I saw.
Do you really want to be associated with Rick Lax and Justin Flom and their [shitty tricks/fake videos/exposure] that they do on Facebook?
What they’re doing in that download isn’t really related to their Facebook videos. So I don’t really care.
Look, I understand people not liking their Facebook output. But my reaction to their Facebook stuff isn’t, “How dare you! This is awful and CLASSLESS garbage!” It just doesn’t raise my pulse at all. I just feel it’s not for me. Which is what I feel about most stuff on Facebook, which is why I’m not really on Facebook. Problem solved.
Did you get paid for this?
Hahahahaha. 😂
So, are you happy this video exists or upset about it?
I’ve heard from people I trust that the download is very good, the tricks are strong and the teaching is well done. And I’m happy that some people for whom this style of magic is a natural fit, are going to learn about it for the first time from this download.
That being said, I’ve never been trying to bring more people to this site, or to this style of performing. The thing that is most likely to kill the casual/social style is a bunch of fucking nerds ruining it by doing a shitty version of it. I would like 98% of the magicians to perform in the traditional manner. For my sake. Because I want what I’m doing to stand out from what people are expecting from magic.
The good thing is, you can’t really capture this type of magic on video. Not fully so, at least. You can get about 60% there. But when you have cameras out and you’re performing for a group larger than a couple people, you’re not really getting the same experience of talking to someone in private and saying, “The strangest thing has been happening recently…”
So I think Justin and Rick have really just cracked the door a little. I don’t think they’ve shined too bright a light on this style to the point where it will become less special. The truth is, I’ve gone far deeper and weirder than the ideas they talk about in this download. So there is still much more to explore in this style that no one is ever going to put on film.
Can you tell us any more about the tricks, books or other projects you said you will be putting out and making available to supporters? I’m excited to hear there’s going to be something besides the book to look forward to. —CL
I’m hesitant to talk about these things for a couple reasons. But the main reason is that I don’t want someone supporting the site solely because they want to pick up one of these limited edition books or tricks or whatever. And that’s what will happen if I start pushing these things too much.
The idea isn’t, “Oh, if you pay at least $10 per month, then you’ll get the opportunity to buy these other releases!”The idea is that I want to make the other releases available to people who resonate with the site enough that they feel they’re getting $10 worth of enjoyment already from the site and newsletters. I don’t want people to feel like they’re paying to be on a potential distribution list. Then I’d feel like shit if I wasn’t regularly putting out new stuff.
But, to put maybe a little more pressure on myself, some of the products that are fully formed and just need to be produced are:
A dream prediction/influence effect. This is a premise I’ve played around with before, but this is my simplest and strongest version yet.
A new Hook t-shirt that provides an intriguing backstory related to something that people are already fascinated with, and can lead into all sorts of different tricks.
An expanded hardcover version of The Amateur at the Kitchen Table. By “expanded” I mean, like, by 400%. It’s going to be much bigger and contain a bunch of the ideas geared specifically towards amateur/social magic that have appeared on the site, but not in any of the books yet.
An old “Executive Decision Making” product, supposedly from the late 80s, that can be used to force essentially anything in the world.
A card matching effect! Okay, that doesn’t really deserve an exclamation point. But it’s the story and props that go along with this that make it fascinating, and I don’t quite want to spill the beans on it’s just yet. It going to be designed to look like an old game from the 1970s, and the backstory of the game provide the context for the card matching effect.
A book on 50 different ways to reveal peeked information.
And one of the strongest card effects I’ve ever performed. The outcome of a simple card game is predicted. The prediction is made and set aside. Then any deck can be borrowed. The deck is shuffled by the spectator(s). The magician genuinely never touches anything. Not the cards, not the prediction. In fact, it’s not even the magician who makes the prediction. A spectator makes the prediction. Sleight-free. Can be done completely impromptu. Although I will likely be making it available with a small prop which will simplify the story that goes along with the effect.
As I said, I have no clue when these will be coming out or even if they’ll come out. So don’t sign up to support the site if your sole reason for doing so is to purchase one of these.
I came up with a trick that I think would be perfect for you and maybe for a future book. […] Are you open to being pitched effects? —SB
Sure, I’m open to it. Send me an email if you think it’s something that’s really in my wheelhouse. All my write-ups are based on real performances and if it’s a good trick but not the sort of thing I’d ever do, then you’d have better luck sharing it somewhere else.
Also, I’ll say this… if it’s literally like a fully formed trick, and it’s something new, then having me publish it is probably going to be one of the least effective ways of getting your name out there, if that’s your goal. However if you like the idea of releasing it in a more limited fashion, then I’d be happy to be able to share it with people. And you’ll be paid (which is unlike most magic magazines or outlets like that).