Mailbag #88
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Did you pick up Scribe by Christian Grace yet? I’m wondering if it will be in next year’s Jerx Almanac as your go-to thumbwriter? —SL
I did, in fact, pick this up. I get almost every new secret writing device that I hear about.
No, it won’t replace the thumbwriter I currently use. That’s not to say it isn’t good. But I spent so much time working with a more traditional thumbwriter in order to get things legible, that my muscle memory is now all set up for the standard version. If I was a beginner, or I was recommending a thumbwriter to a beginner, I could see myself leaning towards Scribe. But as it stands I would have to relearn secret-writing with this gimmick, when I have something pretty workable already. I don’t see myself doing that. I’m lazy.
Again, that’s not saying that Scribe isn’t better, but in my hands, it felt clunkier and more awkward than what I have become used to. Like if you learned to ride a bicycle and then someone said, “I’ve got something much better.”
That’s definitely more stable and easier to ride, but if you already put the time into getting good on a normal bicycle, you might only see the downsides of this new version.
There’s a bit of a debate on hypnotism in this thread on the Magic Cafe. It’s a trick where you make it so a spectator can’t lift a sharpie from a table. There’s some debate about the usefulness of hypnosis and the spectator’s experience. What are your thoughts on this sort of thing? Or hypnosis in general?—LL
Every hypnosis thing I’ve looked into or experienced has involved the spectator playing along with the situation in some respect. That’s my understanding of stage hypnosis, clinical hypnosis, and these types of suggestion-based stunts. Perhaps there exists something where that’s not the case. Where the person truly feels they were compelled to do or not to do something and it was entirely beyond their control. But if so, I don’t know what that technique is.
I had a friend in NYC who used to stick people’s hands to the table with “hypnosis.” It seemed like their hands were really stuck and it was against their will. I watched him do this with many people over the course of a couple of years.
Then, one day, a mutual friend of ours who was out with us said to the person whose hand was stuck, “I’ll give you six dollars if you raise your hand.” And they raised their hand. This story got around our friend group and after that point, whenever my friend tried to stick someone’s hand to a table, someone else would say, “I’ll give you six dollars if you lift your hand.” And 100% of the time they lifted their hand. It wasn’t $1000 or some other amount that might be powerful enough to “break the spell.” No. It was just six bucks.
Perhaps some people are more or less conscious to the extent that they’re allowing these things to happen. But, I don’t know that anyone is completely in the dar. And, as someone who prefers to perform one-on-one, I’m not really into these sorts of stunts where the spectator going along with it is such a big part of the “method.”
From time to time, I enjoy practicing DayGame in my country, and I never perform sleight of hand during an approach, only on dates. It appears that you only perform magic when you are alone with the woman. However, if you were to perform a magic trick for a woman whom you approached on the street and wished to establish a connection with her, perhaps by guessing her zodiac sign or some other such nonsense, would you perform a trick? Do you have a particular trick in mind, or would you reserve it exclusively for a date?—DM
It’s not the trick itself that’s going to really matter, it’s the timing. I wouldn’t approach anyone on the street and perform a trick for them. If you’re recording a tv special, that’s one thing. But if this is meant to be a normal human interaction, then it would be way weird (at least in the United States).
If you do anything that’s meant to look “impressive” too early on when meeting someone (a magic trick, bragging about your bank balance, showing them your MENSA membership card) that’s going to come off as low-status and trying too hard.
I don’t think you can “establish a connection” with a magic trick. At least I never have. At least not a genuine connection. You can establish a connection between “audience and magician” but not really between two regular people. Once you know the person, then a good magic trick can further a connection. But not build one out of nothing.
Conversation is the only way I know to establish a connection. In that initial conversation you can plant some seeds about your interest in: magic, psychology, sleight-of-hand, astrology, mind-reading, gambling, or whatever the case may be. If the other person is intrigued, then you can transition into your trick after they demonstrate their interest in seeing something like that.
If someone walked up to you and said, “I’m going to sing you a song.” You’d find that weird. If they started up a conversation with you and at some point mentioned being a singer and you expressed an interest in hearing them sing, then it might be perfectly natural for them sing a few bars. And at that point, sharing that song with you might deepen your connection, but if they had just started with that shit immediately you’d be like
On the occasions where I do show someone I just met something (in a coffee bar or on a train/plane) then it’s very clear that I’m not trying to create a connection with them. I’m just asking for their help or their opinion on something. It’s very, very casual. “Could I get your help with something real quick?” It should feel like the equivalent of asking someone for the time. People usually don’t want to feel singled out by a stranger. So you don’t want it to feel like, “Oh, I want to do this thing especially for you.” Instead, you want it to seem like it could have been anyone and they just happen to be nearby. That takes some of the pressure and weirdness out of the situation. And that moment could then transition into conversation/connection, but only because it didn’t seem that was my intention from the start.