Mailbag #78

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I was reading one of your recent articles on the "everyday carry," in which you wrote:

"But if [the psychologist] starts pulling out little props and objects from her pocket that were only there so she could demonstrate these things, would that not feel a little different to you? Wouldn’t you think, “Oh…she really wanted to do this thing. She was prepared.” Would that strike you as mildly desperate?"

When you break into story (receiving packages from your white wand book club that knows which book you subconsciously want), and it's clear during (and definitely after) the trick that it's prepared, why doesn't this come across as "you really wanted to perform this, you went to the trouble of mailing packages" - mildly desperate as well?—RK

Think of it like this, imagine I just met you and I said, “I want to read you a poem I wrote.” That could easily come off as weird or pathetic.

But if we were dating and I said I’d written you specifically a poem, that would have a completely different energy to it.

This is the Duality of Advanced Preparation. I wrote about it back in 2018.

When we talk about our Every Day Carry, we’re generally talking about the things we have on us that allow us to perform in a spontaneous-seeming manner. (That’s not how everyone uses the term “EDC,” but that’s the useful way to use the term. Because if your only definition of “EDC” is that it fits in your pocket, that’s not a super helpful designation.) To maintain spontaneity you don’t want to seem overly prepared for the moment.

But the “Romantic Adventure” style is designed to feel like an immersive fiction. When performing in that style for friends and family, the preparation can be a benefit.

As I wrote in the post linked above:

The duality (and dichotomy) of advanced preparation is that—when performing for strangers—it minimizes their role in what’s going on (i.e. “well, he was set to show this to anyone he happened to meet tonight”). But—when performing for friends and family—it can emphasize their role in the effect and their importance to the experience.

I was home for the holidays and had access to my parents pool table and was able to perform Dead of Night Pool three times. Growing up with a pool table in my house I performed every different pool trick I could over the years DoNP is definitely the best of the batch. The first time I performed it I got a really strong reaction. But the 2nd and 3rd time when I performed it for [my friend and my cousin] they totally flipped and the reaction grew the more they thought about it. I’m surprised you didn’t save that for the book.

I also used the bar bet you mentioned in the last mailbag post. That went over really well too. Any chance you’ll write more on those kinds of bets/scams in the futures? —RC

Cool, I’m glad you got a good reaction from Dead of Night Pool. You’ve now performed it more times than I have. Since it requires such a specific performance environment, it wouldn’t make a good trick for the book.

I’m not a guy who has a bunch of bar bets ready to go at all times. I do have a few favorites. I tend to like the ones that have more of a “joke” feel to them. Where the satisfaction of the bet feels kind of like a punchline, but one that gives you a similar satisfaction to what you might get seeing a trick exposed. I don’t really like the ones where you’re moving around coins or toothpicks too much. I might do an issue of the newsletter that covers my favorites if I feel compelled to. I’ll think about it. The truth is, I don’t have that much to add to these types of bar bets, so my only contribution would be compiling my personal favorites. If there’s interest in it, I’ll do it.

What do you think about this new Ellusionist release from Aaron Alexander? Do you ever perform these types of tricks? —VC

I’ve played around with these types of effects in the past. I enjoyed performing them and people enjoyed experiencing them. But I don’t really do anything like it these days. It just doesn’t fit my style.

For these types of tricks to work, the spectator has to willingly go along with what you’re doing. Even if they’re not consciously making the choice to do so, on some level they realize they’re allowing the phenomena to occur.

When I perform for people, I want them to play along with the premise, but I actually want them to fight getting fooled. I think the strongest tricks are the ones that enchant people despite them having their guard up. This type of trick doesn’t allow for that type of good-natured antagonistic energy. So it’s not something that I would perform with any regularly, but I definitely see the appeal for people who perform a different style of magic.