Mailbag #80
/With all the talk of sock-puppet accounts and secret identities, do you worry about your identity being outed?—LM
Not really, no.
I’ve explained this before but it’s hard to go into detail without giving away too much. But there’s a fundamental misconception behind the search for who writes this site. So asking me if I’m worried if someone is going to find out who I am would be like asking me, “Look at those burglars in your house. Are you worried they’re going to find your stash of gold?” And my answer is, “All my money is in silver. And that’s not my house.”
So no, I’m not concerned. You can do detective work, and that will bring you—at best— to people who help run the site. But it would be hard to get much further than that.
Plus, this isn’t like uncovering Erdnase. He claimed to be an “expert” at gambling and sleight-of-hand. I can understand the desire to track down this famous expert.
But I’ve said, “I’m nobody you’ve ever heard of. I’m an amateur magician who performs socially. These are my personal conclusions from performing in that environment.” If anyone did somehow track me down, they would discover… I’m an amateur magician who performs socially that they’ve never heard of. It wouldn’t be quite the revelation some might hope. And it would make the person “uncovering” me look corny—it wouldn’t make me look bad at all.
I’ve had various reasons for using a pseudonym throughout the years I’ve been writing about magic. But the primary one now is that I want to be able to engage with the people in my life and show them tricks without them saying or thinking, “Oh, are you going to write up this incident for one of your little books or blogs?” My ability to get honest reactions and genuine interactions would be gone at that point.
You were well represented at Magifest last week. I saw a few GLOMM pins and shirts. One guy did a trick for [our bartender and waitress] where a deck that was invisible became visible and vice versa and it destroyed them. He said it was your trick. Someone else did the most impossibly hands-off ACAAN I’ve ever seen which he credited to you. Another guy did a really interesting sponge ball presentation which he credited to you. Are these on your site or in your books? —PE
The first trick is from a book of mine which is now out of print.
I believe the ACAAN you’re talking about is something I was discussing over email with the person you saw perform it. It’s not my trick. There’s an effect called F.A.S.T. that I’ve been playing around with for a couple months. It’s frustrating because half the people I’ve tested it on were incredibly fooled by it and the other half literally walked me through step-by-step how it’s done. What you saw was my attempt to address the parts of the trick people we’re seeing through. My additions make it entirely hands off and far more difficult to figure out, but there are also drawbacks which make the trick less convenient. There’s a good chance my changes will be in a future newsletter where I can delve into the trick a little more deeply, but without giving too much away because it’s not my trick.
The sponge ball thing… the guy was either fucking with you or I just don’t remember it.
I can’t find the messages at the moment, but last year I received a couple emails asking me what type of bag I use. I’ve mentioned in the past I carry my computer with me when I’m out doing work and I usually have some magic items in there.
For the most part I use a messenger bag that has some interior pockets in which I can store effects.
The one I have is similar to this.
If I’m doing something a bit more active than just walking from my car into a cafe, I sometimes use a Fjällräven Kånken laptop backpack…
with an interior organizer like this…
Obviously this just comes down to personal style. But what I’m looking for is something that has different pockets so I can keep my magic stuff separate from my other work stuff. But I’m not looking for something that you look at and say, “Wow, that’s got a lot of pockets!”